Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Vinny going nowhere - Lawton

Lightning GM Brian Lawton has again stated that captain Vince Lecavalier will not be one of those players leaving on a trade this month. And he certainly did not mince his words.
"We're not going to trade Vinny Lecavalier," Lawton said Monday. "I'm going to say, 'never,' so I don't have to deal with it."
Lawton restated his vision for Lecavalier, who has an 11-year, $85million contract extension with a no-movement clause that kicks in July 1. Lecavalier's current deal does not include a no-trade.
"I'll say never right now," Lawton again said Monday, before the team departed for a three-game road trip to western Canada. "You can usually say you should never say never, but because people have taken such liberties with that whole deal, we never shopped Vinny Lecavalier. Did people ask about him? Of course. Who wouldn't? Were we actively calling teams? No. We never did and we never will.
"Let's leave it at that, so I don't have to answer any questions."
With veterans such as Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts and Marek Malik – each of whom could add valuable depth to a playoff team – Tampa Bay will be the target of those teams with more games to play. At 20-28-12, the Lightning are out of the postseason race in the Eastern Conference.
"I think we'll be pretty active because of our situation," Lawton said. "We've got some real good veteran players capable of helping teams down the stretch. I think people are going to have interest in them. The clock is ticking and we have until a week from Wednesday to make some decisions."

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