Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Rick Dudley confirmed to the St. Petersburg Times that Lecavalier requested a trade through his agent about two weeks ago. He also told the paper that approximately 15 teams are actively pursuing the 21-year-old center, with "six to eight serious players," and that if a trade is going to happen, it will be soon.
"The last two days, I've been trying to cut it down to a workable number of teams that have interest," Dudley told the paper.
Teams sources told ESPN.com that team owner Bill Davidson flew in from his home in Detroit to meet with Dudley, team president Ron Campbell and assistant GM Jay Feaster on Friday.
After missing all of training camp and the first two games of the season due to a contract hold out, Lacavalier was relieved of his captaincy. He has three goals and seven assists in 26 games, and has not scored since a 3-2 loss against Toronto, a span of 11 games. Lecavalier has also seen his ice time fluctuate from a season-high 22 minutes, 18 seconds on Nov. 10 against Pittsburgh to a season-low 14:22 two games later against Carolina.
Dudley indicated that Lecavalier's relationship with head coach John Tortorella is a factor in the request, but he would not elaborate.
"It's one thing to have a Peter Bondra who's at odds with his coach because he's scored 50 goals and accomplished a certain number of things in the NHL. He's not going to lose confidence," Dudley told the paper. "A young player in the same circumstances does, and that can be very damaging."
Dudley said teams began inquiring about Lecavalier after the player's trade request was leaked by an out-of-town source. He added that he had not spoken to Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello about a deal, which was rumored to include a combination of Bobby Holik, Jason Arnott and Scott Gomez, and speculated the rumor was started to knock the Devils off their game.
"A couple of teams at the top of the Eastern Conference wouldn't mind seeing the Devils disrupted," Dudley said. "Because of the specific players, there can't be any other motivation."
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Minnesota Wild 28 GP - 11 W - 5 T - 10 L - 2 OTL- 29 P
Wes Walz 20 GP - 3 G - 3 A - 6 P - 6 PIM
Jeremy Roenick 26 GP - 5 G - 19 A - 24 P - 28 PIM
Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Rick Dudley hat am Freitag erstmals zugegeben, dass Center Vincent Lecavalier um einen Trade gebeten hat. Dudley, der die letzten Wochen jegliche Wechselgerüchte verneint hatte (wir berichteten), hat mit mehreren General Managers anderer NHL-Teams über eine mögliche Übereinkunft gesprochen.
Dudley sagte gegenüber der St. Petersburg Times, dass ungefähr 15 Mannschaften an Lecavalier interessiert sind, aber er denkt, dass sechs bis acht ernsthafte Verhandlungspartner sind. An erster Stelle wurden jedoch die New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers und die Edmonton Oilers als neue Arbeitgeber des Nummer 1 Drafts von 1998 genannt.
Ein Wechsel des 21-jährigen Stürmers, der im bisherigen Saisonverlauf mit nur zehn Scorerpunkten in 28 Spielen nicht überzeugen konnte, könnte die Besetzung der Lightning auf den Außenstürmer- und Verteidigerposten weiter verbessern.
http://www.eishockey.com/berichte/news/tam011208.htm
cheers Stefan
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RobPearson
