Lightning trade Lemieux

(Tampa) - After months of trying to move Mario Lemieux before he retired at seasons end (4 in 6 chance he will) the Lightning finally made a move to give the star one more chance at the Cup. When it seemed the Lightning were done trading, the ne Gm for the Devils made a call to Gm Sprackman and inquired about Lemieux. The talks, like so many started out slow with Gm Sprackman saying he wanted youth to get a deal done, but when that was impossible, the two teams discussed other players that would fit into Tampa's plans. New Jersey really wanted to get Mario and after some talks the names that came up were Donovan and Schneider. At first, Gm Sprackman was unimpressed with the players offered but after some talks with the scouts and looking at what they may bring next season, Gm Sprackman said...What the F*&%.

"I really wanted to get one maybe two young players, not stars but players we could develop in the next 2 or 3 seasons. No one wanted to offer that so we decided this was the best deal for the franchise. " Gm Sprackman stated. "With Donovan, we look at him as a 4th line winger next season and hopefully he can add some needed scoring on that line. With Stevey moving to center full time next season to take Mario's place, we needed another winger and Shean should be more then capable to handle that duty. We already expect to have a much more improved Schneider (NHL re-rate) next season and will fit in great with Kubina, McLaren, Brewer, Vaananen and Jillson. Overall, we took ahit this season, one we decided anyway when we dealt Thibault, and now look forward to a rebound season next year."

The team was sad to hear Mario was gone but the team told the players that some vets would be moved. With the season winding down, only 2 potential players can move now. Prospal and Svehla have heard their names all season and maybe they too will follow Mario to a team in a playoff spot. We shall see shortly.