I can always count on Michael Arace at the Dispatch to have the information I was looking for. Today when I wrote my earlier post I was looking for a quote about Marc Denis but I couldn’t find it…luckily for me on Arace’s blog today he had the quote I needed. When MacLean was asked what he regrets the most about his time as General Manager he said said:
“In hindsight the one thing that jumps out is the goaltending. It bothers me to this day. I thought Marc Denis was the guy. But he gave us five pretty good years, not five great years.”
So for Denis he is having an owner who has publicly bashed him. Also, Arace brings up some points about Clark that kind of make sense. He says:
There’s little doubt that Campbell will soon be on his way. He’s beholden to the soon-to-be-previous owners and, besides, it’s easy to shove aside a guy who was arrested for suspicion of DUI – as Campbell was last January.
A conspiracy theorist can put some other pieces together: Was not Jim Clark, the assistant GM under MacLean in Columbus, recently asked to relocate to Syracuse? Will Clark actually land in the ‘Cuse – or does he already have a ticket punched for Tampa? Wouldn’t he slide neatly into the president’s job with the Lightning? Or into the GM’s job, as a figurehead for MacLean?
Seems to make sense…MacLean likes to keep people around him who are his friends…people who build him up…tell him he is doing a great job.
Do I think that MacLean is going to ultimately destroy the Lightning? No, not necessarily, but it’s entirely possible. MacLean has a good team going in…but if he starts the tragic movement of players…well…it could be bad news if you’re a Lightning Fan. Anyway, I hope the best for Tampa Bay but in all honesty I would prepare for the worst. Be sure to check out Arace’s Blog…it’s a pretty good read.
