It’s tough to make hockey news in the midst of Rays’ highlights and Bucs’ pre-season workouts, but the Tampa Bay Lightning keep doing it.
Witness last week’s hiring of a CEO, the well-regarded Tod Leiweke, formerly the CEO of the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL. So well-regarded is community-conscious, fan-friendly Leiweke that owner Jeff Vinik made him part owner to induce him to leave Seattle.
The run of positive media coverage actually started at the end of last season when Vinik bought the franchise. The team had missed the playoffs, attendance had headed south and ownership had been a shambles when it wasn’t a “cowboy” joke. But Vinik brought instant credibility and stability the only way a new owner in this market with this recent history could. He paid cash.
It also helped that he neither acted like nor looked like a goofball who needed grooming lessons. No shaky leverage. No silent — or not-so-silent — partners. No hint of a “cowboy” gene.
Vinik subsequently — and periodically — made some Midas-touch moves. He pried NHL icon Steve Yzerman away from the Detroit Red Wings and made him general manager. That got everyone’s attention and would provide Vinik with a key ripple-effect, recruiting tool.
Yzerman, in turn, convinced the young, charismatic Guy Boucher to leave the Montreal Canadiens’ cocoon. The fast-tracking Boucher had earned national acclaim for his work for Hockey Canada and had been considered a veritable natural resource in his native country. He was the Canadiens’ all-but-designated coach-in-waiting after being named Coach Of The Year last season for the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs, the Canadiens’ top minor league affiliate. And Yzerman got him to come here. Reportedly, Canadien fans are still cursing a sacre bleu streak in Quebec Province.
Yzerman also did the right — as well as extremely popular — thing in re-signing Marty St. Louis to a multi-year contract, presiding over a successful draft and, among other notable moves, bringing in high-scoring forward Simon Gagne from the Philadelphia Flyers. And Yzerman was no small factor in convincing Leiweke to come aboard.
And speaking of Leiweke again, look for him to make better use of local resident, hockey Hall of Famer and Lightning founder Phil Esposito. As in doing more than radio analysis for home games. It’s all part of re-branding the Lightning.
But it all started with a cash buyer who honored his word when he said he would do whatever was necessary to turn the Lightning franchise, one that has known ultimate Stanley Cup success, around. Vinik had said all the right things about doing whatever it would take to bring the best people on board and then letting them do their jobs. He also said to judge him on results not rhetoric.
So far, the Lighting are undefeated in the rebranding game. And not a cowboy in sight.