Tom Gilbert is the only active defenseman on the Oilers from their opening night roster.The Oilers traded Lubomir Visnovsky, Denis Grebeshkov and Steve Staios this week, while Sheldon Souray and Ladislav Smid are out with injuries. "This year was different, hearing my name out there a little more (in trade rumors). But if you're still here there's a reason for that," Gilbert said. "...

Player hit the ice at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum. ...

BRANDON - Two weeks before training camp, what the Lightning have on the team's roster is the group that will start training camp. That includes one noticeable absence - defenseman Paul Ranger. Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman said Wednesday that after speaking with Ranger recently, the team intends to move forward under the assumption Ranger will not be playing this season. Ranger has been...

Rust? What rust? After sitting out all of training camp due to injury, Carter Ashton made quite a debut on Wednesday night when he potted four goals in the Regina Pats' annual Blue & White intrasquad game, leading Team Blue to a 4-2 win before 725 fans at the Co-operators Centre. Ashton had been limited to riding the bike and skating on his own for the first four days of camp because of a sprained...

Only a little more than two weeks separates us from the beginning of start of NHL training camps and the 2010-11 season. With that in mind, there are a load of questions that can be asked about the Tampa Bay Lightning and various aspects of the franchise. There are obvious questions that will be repeated time and again in preseason Lightning evaluations, and there are other ones that will be overl...

Amid predictions Vincent Lecavalier was healthy and poised to return to something resembling the 52-goal, 108-point form he flashed four years ago, Tampa Bay’s star center underwent a surprise knee operation on Aug. 24. So much for an offseason free of rehab. But the Lightning captain told the St. Petersburg Times the latest procedure will not be an issue and his frustration level is nowhere nea...

BRANDON - Steven Stamkos sat in the stands inside Rogers Centre during a recent summer afternoon, a typical fan hanging out with his buddies and taking in a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game. For the recent 51-goal scorer, however, there suddenly is nothing typical about being out in public. In hockey-mad Toronto, Stamkos was easily picked out of the crowd by many of the fans in the ballpark. By the...

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Amid predictions Vincent Lecavalier was healthy and poised to return to something resembling the 52-goal, 108-point form he flashed four years ago, Tampa Bay’s star center underwent a surprise knee operation on Aug. 24. So much for an offseason free of...