St. Louis Bolts From Tampa Bay

Now that the emotion has faded from that less-than-classy exit from the Lightning orchestrated by Marty St. Louis, we can take a more dispassionate look at the context.

We know St. Louis, 38, had wanted to move closer to his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. That’s why the New York Rangers, an hour’s commute away, made sense for him. And we know that he thought about this back in 2009, during the pre-Vinik, chaotic-“cowboy” ownership days.

We also know that the chemistry between St. Louis and Bolts’ general manager Steve Yzerman had been devolving since St. Louis was initially left off of the 2014 Canadian Olympic team. Yzerman was Team Canada’s executive director and cast a key vote in personnel decisions.

St. Louis felt snubbed–by his own GM. (For what it’s worth, the Philadelphia Flyers complained publicly that their man, Claude Giroux, was passed over when St. Louis was later named to replace the injured Steven Stamkos.)

But there’s another aspect to selecting a national team. It’s choosing the best combination. More of a priority than pure skill is complementary skill. Nobody knows that better than the coach. In this case it was Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings.

Reportedly, he’s not that keen on St. Louis. Hardly coincidental: St. Louis didn’t make Canada’s 2010 team that was also coached by Babcock and directed by Yzerman. The case can certainly be made that while Yzerman was St. Louis’ boss, he also owed Babcock a major say in picking the players he would actually coach.

Moreover, when St. Louis was added to replace Stamkos in Sochi, he played sparingly: 37 minutes total. He was scratched for one game and dressed, but didn’t play at all, in another: an embarrassment for an elite player. But he picked up a gold medal.

But nothing, ultimately, matters more than this: The captain bolted on his teammates, franchise and fan base with only 20 games left and the Lightning struggling to stay in the playoff hunt. After 14 seasons, six All Star games, a Stanley Cup, MVP awards, scoring titles and countless choruses of “Louie, Louie”: Marty, we hardly knew ye.

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