Agent: Prospal Will Sign Elsewhere

[guinevere]

Agent: Prospal Will Sign Elsewhere
By ERIK ERLENDSSON eerlendsson@tampatrib.com
Published: Jul 12, 2003



TAMPA - The Lightning likely have lost free agent Vinny Prospal.
Tampa Bay's leading scorer last season will sign with another team next week, according to his agent, Ritch Winter.

``He has agreed to terms with another NHL team,'' Winter said Friday. ``We need to get some scheduling worked out, but it will be announced in a few days.''

Winter did not reveal the team or how much the contract is worth, deferring to Lightning management to comment on the situation. Prospal's name has been linked to Atlanta, Anaheim and Detroit in recent reports.

Tampa Bay general manager Jay Feaster did not return phone messages left for him in Hilton Head Island, S.C., where he has been attending the American Hockey League meetings.

Prospal, a Group V unrestricted free agent as a 10-year pro who made less than the league average last season, made $1.55 million last year and has been seeking a $3.5 million contract. Tampa Bay offered a five-year deal worth $2.5 million a season, and it is believed the Lightning increased the offer earlier this week.

Feaster had an agreement with Winter that the Lightning would have the right to match any offer Prospal received, but it was unclear whether Tampa Bay declined to match or needed time to consider matching the offer.

The possible loss of Prospal opens up a spot on left wing alongside Vinny Lecavalier, a role expected to be filled by veteran Cory Stillman, acquired from St. Louis at last month's draft.

With Prospal seemingly set to leave, Feaster can take the $2.5 million he budgeted to sign Prospal and look at signing a free-agent defenseman. Tampa Bay has five defensemen with NHL experience on its roster after allowing Stan Neckar and Nolan Pratt to become unrestricted free agents last month.

The Lightning would like to find a top-four caliber defenseman who can play 25 minutes a night, but there is a short supply on the free-agent market. Former Colorado defenseman Greg de Vries would be an ideal fit, but he is believed to be seeking a deal worth $3.5 million to $4 million a season - likely out of the Lightning's range - and appears set to sign with the New York Rangers.



Guin

[puckin_A]

Prospal had a good year with Tampa. I am surprized they are letting him go.

[nccanes]

As bad as last year was for the Canes, I do not envy the Lightning fans. They have been let down by management on various fronts. The ownership/management is claiming bigger financial woes than PK and while they promised to improve the team as the approached the playoffs - then they never did. They let two of their lessor defensemen go and have yet to acquire anyone new. I think some thought they were saving the Prospal money to try to sign de Vries. Now it appears they have neither. While Prospal was 3rd in goals behind Lecavalier and St. Louis, he had the most points on the team.

They continually undercut the STH with buy a ticket, get another for $1 type promos, etc.

Of course, if you read a story in the Tampa Trib saying that the Lightning "make contact" with de Vries and then actually read it and see that Chris Dingman merely said that de Vries asked him what it was like to play in Tampa while they played in a golf tourney - and you chose to put hope in that "contact", then I suppose you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Not that a potentially weaker team in Tampa makes me sad. ;)

[nccanes]

Tampa admits that Prospal is gone - to either Atlanta or Anaheim (please be Anaheim).

Interesting facet of these negotiations is that Prospal apparently agreed to allow the Lightning to match any offers that were rec'd, but no clubs were willing to MAKE offers with such an agreement in place (um, his IS a UFA), so the Lightning were asked to make "one final offer".

As I mentioned above - I do not envy the Lightning fans. Now the have Tim Taylor complaining about this in the press and just a few weeks ago, Tortarella was griping in the press about not getting a contract extension yet (he's contracted for this next season). :roll:

Bolts Say Bye To Prospal
By ERIK ERLENDSSON eerlendsson@tampatrib.com
Published: Jul 13, 2003

TAMPA - The Lightning are down to one Vinny.
Tampa Bay general manager Jay Feaster said he is aware that unrestricted free agent Vinny Prospal has accepted a deal from an undisclosed team - believed to be Anaheim or Atlanta - and will not return to Tampa Bay next season. Feaster said the agreement, possibly for five years, is worth $20 million to $25 million - an amount the Lightning likely would not have matched even if they had the right.

An agreement between the Lightning and Prospal's agent that would allow Tampa Bay to match any offer was taken off the board by Ritch Winter on Monday. Because teams were not willing to make an offer that could be matched, Winter asked Feaster for a final offer with a Wednesday morning deadline.

The original offer Feaster tendered the winger was five years at $2.5 million per year. He raised the offer to five years at $2.75 million per year, including incentive bonuses that could have made the deal worth $3.25 million per year.

``We made the final offer and set a deadline for Friday at 10 a.m., but it came and went without word,'' Feaster said. ``I spoke with [Winter] late in the afternoon, and that's when he told me that there were two teams offering [Prospal] deals that were so far off what we were offering that there was no sense in offering a right to match. I was told he had accepted a deal that was worth $20 to $25 million and that the deal would be signed within a day or two.''

Feaster said he also spoke with Prospal, who filed for Group V free agency last week, at his home in the Czech Republic on Friday but was told Tampa Bay's leading scorer last season was still seeking a deal worth at least $3.5 million per year. No mention was made about whether he had accepted or rejected the Lightning's final offer, the GM said.

``I feel that we made an incredibly significant offer that would have made him the second-highest paid player on our team, only behind Nik Khabibulin, who is a perennial all- star. And a five-year fixed term is unprecedented for this franchise,'' Feaster said. ``But I have no ill will toward Vinny Prospal, and I am sorry and disappointed and sad to see him go. He was a very, very valuable part of our team, and those are going to be some big skates to fill.''

Lightning center Tim Taylor said the team could have prevented the departure.

``If Tampa Bay had felt that he meant that much to the team, why didn't they come up to him in December or January and try to sign him?'' Taylor said. ``Smart organizations don't let their players become free agents. They gambled and lost. What they tried to sign him to now was probably more than fair, but it probably came six months too late.''

The Lightning did have discussions with Winter about a contract extension during the season, but the negotiations never became serious.

The Lightning look to Cory Stillman, acquired from St. Louis at last month's draft, to fill Prospal's role on the ice. Yet there is always concern that the loss of a player will disrupt the locker room.

``With the chemistry we had, we now lost a member of the team that was well liked by everybody,'' Taylor said.

With the $2.5 million Feaster had budgeted to re-sign Prospal, the team is expected to turn its attention to the need for a defenseman. Tampa Bay has five experienced defensemen on the roster after not tendering qualifying offers to Stan Neckar and Nolan Pratt.

``We have the money in the budget for the right defenseman, and we will assess who that is and who will be the right fit for our team,'' Feaster said. ``I'm not sure that will happen this week, but we will get something done. That doesn't mean we will necessarily be signing somebody, because we could still bring in somebody by trade.''

One player not on the Lightning's radar is former New York Ranger Brian Leetch, Feaster indicated, disputing a New York Post report. Feaster said he has had no contact with Leetch's agent.

Other potential candidates are Oleg Tverdovsky, Ken Klee and possibly Neckar or Pratt.

[Shell]

Mighty Ducks sign Prospal
TSN.ca Staff
7/16/2003

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim have signed centre Vaclav Prospal to a five-year deal worth $17.5 million, TSN has learned.

Prospal had a career year playing on a line with Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier in Tampa Bay last year, scoring 22 goals and dishing out 57 assists.

Prospal, who has also spent time with Philadelphia, Ottawa and Florida, has played in 467 career NHL games and has accumulated 88 goals and 206 assists.

Prospal, 28, qualified for Group V unrestricted free agency because he has played more than 10 NHL seasons and was making less than the league average salary. Prospal earned $1,550,000 last year. His new deal with the Ducks will earn him an average of $3.5 million a season.

The Ducks have been looking to fill the huge void created when star winger Paul Kariya bolted to Colorado. The Ducks were reportedly trying to retain Kariya by signing his friend and former linemate Teemu Selanne, but both players ended up taling less money to play with the Avalanche.

Anaheim reportedly flirted with Red Wing free agent Sergei Fedorov, but were unable to come to terms on an agreement.

[nccanes]

Prospal says farewell to Tampa and give a nice parting shot to the GM. It sounds like the GM/ownership really didn't try to keep him (or rather, his salary).



Lightning goes 1-for-2
By BRANT JAMES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 18, 2003

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TAMPA - The Lightning held on to one of its hopeful scoring threats on the day its biggest from last season bid farewell.

Left wing Fredrik Modin, a restricted free agent eligible for arbitration, accepted the Lightning's qualifying offer of $1.87-million and signed a one-year contract. And left wing Vinny Prospal, the team's leading scorer last season, confirmed he has agreed to a five-year contract with Anaheim.

Prospal, who had 79 points last season, will be paid $16.5-million. Though thorough in his praise of a Lightning organization that gave him the chance to resurrect his career two years ago, Prospal said he had hoped negotiations with the team would have been handled "in a different kind of way."

"Anaheim was the one that came with a great offer and came after me really hard," he said. "They basically didn't fool around and made my choice easy.

"I think (Lightning general manager Jay Feaster) could have done a lot more to keep me in Tampa. I had other GMs calling me since I became a free agent, and I had not heard a thing from Jay, not until I was given an ultimatum to either take the deal or not take the deal on July 9."

Feaster made a final base offer of $13.75-million over five years and set a July 9 deadline for acceptance because, he said, Prospal's agent, Ritch Winter, reneged on an agreement to allow the Lightning to match outside offers.

Prospal credited his handling by coach John Tortorella for his resurgence.

"I will never forget the way that (Tortorella) gave me that kind of responsibility on the ice," he said. "Those two years, I will remember them greatly.

"I always said Tampa was my first priority to sign there, but it did not work out. There are no upset feelings. It's a business."