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Lightning strikes, keeps Connolly

FYI, we're keeping Brett. That was all Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman needed to text to the Tampa Tribune to upend the worlds of the Prince George Cougars and their franchise forward Brett Connolly.

FYI, we're keeping Brett.

That was all Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman needed to text to the Tampa Tribune to upend the worlds of the Prince George Cougars and their franchise forward Brett Connolly.

The text, sent after the Lightning's 4-3 win over Buffalo Tuesday, started Connolly's NHL career in Florida in earnest and ensured he won't be returning to the WHL club where he is the consensus best player.

"We felt that he'd learn more about the details of the game here with us than with his junior team," Tampa head coach Guy Boucher posted on Twitter. "I am not afraid to put him on the ice. That's a testament to what he has done to this point."

Connolly was drafted sixth overall by Tampa Bay in the 2010 draft. However, last fall, according to the Province, Yzerman challenged Connolly after his prospect showed up to camp less-than-NHL ready. The 19-year-old Prince George native responded, forgoing a summer in B.C. for months of working out in Toronto with trainer Pete Renzetti.

The decision apparently worked. He added 10 pounds to his six-foot-two frame and this year in training camp found a niche on a line with Lightning stars Steve Stamkos and Martin St. Louis. He tallied five points in four preseason games -- including a dandy two-goal performance against Montreal on Sept. 29 that featured a mesmerizing toe-drag deke on Habs defenceman Hal Gill that set up his second marker.

That prompted Yzerman to retain Connolly, who racked up 46 goals in 59 games with the Cougars last year, for the NHL club's 23-man regular season roster. But, according to St. Petersburg Times columnist John Romano, Connolly remained doubtful to stick with the NHL club.

The Lightning could keep Connolly on the roster for nine games before having to start paying his three-year, $2.7 million pro contract. But would the forward's body - beset by a knee injury that kept his season to 16 games two years ago and a shoulder injury in the playoffs - stand up to the rigours of an NHL schedule? Could the Lightning take the risk of having to put a regular on waivers due to Connolly when former Canuck Mattias Ohlund returned to game action?

Complicating matters was Connolly's indifferent NHL debut - he had two assists in those nine games - but Romano wrote he posted an assist on Tampa's second goal in a Saturday game against the Sabres, put seven shots on net, doled out some hits, took some and showed enough defensive grit to show he should remain in the States. He was also posted on Lightning's top power play unit for three games.

"The one thing is, he's getting better each game. He's looking more comfortable, being more assertive, just getting better," Yzerman told the Times. "At the end of nine games, is he going to keep going this way or is there a bump in the road? It's a bit of an educated guess."

'We're proud of him'

Left with an educated guess of his own is Dallas Thompson, the general manager of the Prince George Cougars, who must now figure out how to coax the Cats through the mornings after the departure of their most potent offensive presence. Connolly's departure was mitigated by the return of forward Charles Inglis, one of the Cats top scorers, from suspension and Thompson sounded a defiant note Wednesday on how the Cats will move on.

"We're going with the guys we have," said Thompson, whose club is beset with a 3-10-1 record, a seven-game losing streak and has scored an anemic 29 goals, second worse in the WHL. "We have 25 guys, we have Charles Inglis, who was suspended and will be back in our lineup [Wednesday night] and we have a couple of injured guys who will be back soon."

Thompson declined to comment on whether the team was contemplating any imminent moves tradewise to compensate for Connolly's absence.

It is not known what adjustments the Cats will make on the ice to deal with Connolly; Cougars head coach Dean Clark could not be reached by press time.

Regardless, said Thompson, Connolly's move to the NHL fulfils one of the Cougars' chief missions: grooming players for the jump to the professional level.

"We're proud of him; he did a lot for us in a short time," said Thompson. "He put a lot of work in and obviously achieved a goal of his and certainly a goal of ours. That's our job, to move guys on to pro."