MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Center Vinny Lecavalier started off the season garnering plenty of league MVP attention and was among the league's top scorers for most of the first half of the year. Though he tailed off in the second half as the team plummeted to the bottom of the standings, Lecavalier still finished in the top 10 in scoring. He is the first player in Lightning history to record consecutive 40-goal and 90-point seasons.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER
Right wing Michel Ouellet was brought in as a free agent to provide scoring depth on the second line alongside Brad Richards. But at various points in the season Ouellet was either playing limited minutes on the fourth line or was a healthy scratch, which didn't include the 18 games he missed because of a shoulder injury. At the time of Richards' trade to Dallas, Ouellet had eight goals. It took a late flurry for Ouellet to finish the year with 17.

FREE AGENT FOCUS
Tampa Bay may now be in the market for a possible third-line type center following the severe knee injury suffered by veteran center Jeff Halpern during the World Championships taking place in Canada. The team had entertained the idea of retaining Halpern, pending unrestricted free agent Chris Gratton's recovery from hip surgery. With Halpern gone for possibly as long as the opening three months of the season, talks to re-sign Gratton may heat up in the coming weeks.

PLAYER NOTES

--G Karri Ramo was selected to join team Finland for the World Championships taking place in Canada this month, but has been relegated to third-string duties after Minnesota's Nicklas Backstrom joined Finland following the Wild's elimination from the playoffs.

--D Shane O'Brien, acquired in a deal that cost Tampa Bay a No. 1 draft pick last year, was scratched for the final five games of the season for ineffective play and generally repeating the same mistakes. O'Brien was forced to play more minutes than he is generally capable of taking on. But if he wants to maintain a consistent role on the team, he has to be more focused on staying within his game instead of trying to step out and be a No. 1 defenseman.

--C Mitch Fadden, Tampa Bay's fourth-round pick in the 2007 draft, was the last Lightning prospect still participating in major junior playoffs before his Lethbridge team was eliminated in Western Hockey League Final on May 7. Fadden, who is expected to join the Lightning organization after signing an entry-level contract this summer, scored five goals and 20 points in 19 playoff games after registering 36 goals and 84 points in 71 games during the regular season.

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