The Bolts' opened training camp in Brandon Thursday with several questions they'll have to answer this season. The hope for the Lightning is that at least a few of them will be answered by the time the first puck is dropped along Channelside Drive.
-After Vinny and Marty where will the scoring come from? The hope is that Brad Richards will rebound from an off year and regain the form that won him a playoff MVP trophy just a few summers ago. The addition of friend and former juniors teamate Michel Ouillet will help put all those passes to the front of the net that went for naught last year into the net this season. The re-aquisition of Chris Gratton should bolster the third line into more productivity.
-Who is the Goalie? Ask the Bolts' and they'll tell you it's an open competiton between the three goaltenders, Marc Denis, Johan Holmqvist, and Kari Rammo, for the two spots. It's more realistic to believe that unless Holmqvist or Denis plays there way off the roster in the the preseason, or Rammo is so good and establishes himself as the hands down number one goalie, this is really just a two man competition. The orginization has much more invested in Denis, having traded a Tortarella favorite for him, to not give him every oppurtunity to win the job. The front office and the coaching staff know that they will not advance very far in the post-season if the goaltending situation is in the same state of flux entering this season as it was throuhgout last year. Expect the team to try to establish who their number one goaltender is, if not by the end of training camp, by November
-JUSTIN LEWIS
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