At least the Lightning was honest when it said financial considerations were part of the equation of its plan to bring invite just 26 players to training camp. That is 28 fewer than last season and a bow to a tight hockey operations budget that will not see payroll cut but remain a stagnant $44-million.

But let's take that out of the equation for a second. More interesting to me is the lack of a look Lightning brass will get of its minor leaguers. General manager Jay Feaster was strong when he said training camp is not a right but a privilege, and the team, right now, has few in its system that deserve that invitation. There also is something to the argument that with just 26 players in camp (and remember, that number could go up depending on free-agent signings), the guys there will have a much more intense and targeted experience.

Still, coach John Tortorella has always said the best way to prepare young athletes is to give them a taste of  the real world and send them back down to the minors. Then, when they come back up, they feel more comfortable in their surroundings and know what to expect and the level at which they have to play. On the other hand, that didn't work too well last season with Blair Jones, who showed so much promise in his first NHL go-round but floundered when he went back to Springfield and then was benched after being re-called to the Lightning for, as the scuttlebutt goes, coming late to a team meeting.

Perhaps it boils down to this: 2007-08 is a huge season for the Lightning and the direction the team goes in the future. With Dan Boyle's contract up, the Big 4 may be together for no more than another year. In that sense, the team likely feels urgency to concentrate on the now. The guys in the minors, well, they can wait, for now. And if they start to believe performance is the best way to the NHL, so much the better.