Hockey

There are only so many ways to ask the same questions, again and again, but it's quite likely Vinny Lecavalier heard them all on Tuesday in the lead up to the Tampa Bay Lightning's game in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.

The first being, "So, what's wrong with you anyway?"

And the follow up, "Aren't you worried about that Olympics business coming up?"

Lecavalier didn't offer a lot of answers, either, other than vowing to work harder and push through a slump that's seen him score one goal in his past 19 games dating back to last season. Lightning coach Rick Tocchet, meanwhile, sent his star a message on the weekend, bumping him down to a line with Drew Miller and Stephane Veilleux in practice and then limiting his captain to just 16 minutes ice time in an ugly 6-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.

It's not hard, too, to note the contrast between Lecavalier's play and that of second-year centre Steve Stamkos, who with 11 goals in 12 games has taken over the top-line centre role between Ryan Malone and Martin St. Louis. Lecavalier has only one goal in 12 games this season to go along with nine assists and a minus-8 rating.

And while there have only been a dozen games played, whispers at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday were all about a changing of the guard in Tampa, and whether or not the 19-year-old from Markham, Ont., now has a better shot than the grizzled veteran at playing for Team Canada at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Their Lightning teammate, Martin St. Louis, who is also in the running for a spot on that team, said he doesn't view it that way.

"We're just seeing a young kid right now that's really showing what he can do," St. Louis said. "Vinny is trying to get his game going. Stammer is playing with a lot of confidence right now; Vinny has done that before.

"When you get that confidence, the net looks big - you know, you feel invincible. I would say right now Stammer is our most confident player on our team with the way things are going and we're all trying to get to that level."

The past two seasons have been a difficult road for Lecavalier, who has had surgery on both wrists and his right shoulder over the past two-and-a-half years. After a breakthrough 52-goal, 108-point campaign in 2006-07, he dropped to 40 goals and 92 points the following season and fell even further last year, to just 29 goals and 67 points, as the Lightning finished 29th and 30th in the NHL in successive seasons.

This year, they're off to a middling 4-4-4 start, buoyed in part by the additions of Stamkos, the first-overall pick in 2008, and defenceman Victor Hedman, the second-overall selection this past June.

Just where Lecavalier, who will make $10-million per year the next seven seasons, fits into the mix has yet to sort itself out, however. As his ice time has fallen to just below 20 minutes a game this season, Stamkos's has risen to almost the exact same level.

"He's been huge," Lecavalier said of his teammate, 10 years his junior. "It's pretty impressive. He's proven to be a huge threat for other teams. He's playing great, working hard and obviously he's just going to keep getting better and better.

"We've got to rally around him."

Lecavalier added that he realizes his trip to Vancouver in February could be in doubt if his cold start continues.

"Obviously it's on my mind," he said. "I want to be part of that team and I didn't have the start that I wanted. But the good news is that we're only 12 games in. I've got to stay positive. It's tough, but you've got to have some positive thoughts, have a big game or something like that, and it kind of carries over."