Vinny Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos had a few words of advice for Brett Connolly.
As first-round draft picks of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the three have something in common.
The sixth-overall pick in the 2010 draft was all ears when Lecavalier (first-overall in 1998) and Stamkos (first-overall in 2008) offered Connolly a few tips to smooth out his eventual jump from the Prince George Cougars to the NHL.
"Vinny and Stammer were really good to me, they made me feel like I was part of the team from Day 1," said Connolly. "I had good talks with them and they were in that situation a few years ago. They told me not to put too much pressure on myself. In their situations they didn't put much pressure on themselves and just went out and played, and obviously listened to their coach and worked hard every day.
"Stamkos is a guy that I look up to and a guy I want to be like one day. I'd like to work towards skating with him and being his linemate. I realized how hard they work and how hard I'll have to work."
Connolly has his eyes opened in the Bolts' training camp and was thrown into the lineup for a least one preseason game. But he wasn't in over his head. His first foray with the pros gave him a sense he's not far off from making that next step.
"For me to get down there and get the confidence that I got playing with those guys was huge, I made a really good first impression on the staff there and that's good for my future," he said. "It was a really good three weeks for me, I mean how I played, and to bring that back to the team will be good.
"They just want me to have another year of junior and play a lot of minutes and come back next year with a lot of confidence. I think for me it will be better in my longterm career playing a lot of minutes and not playing on a fourth line for the whole year, in and out of the lineup."
Still unsigned to his NHL team, Connolly expects that to happen within the next month, once the Lightning have decided their roster.
See Thursday's Citizen for more
