The Lightning seems to think so after it left the center off the top four lines heading into Thursday's opening of training camp.

Craig has some issues. He was hampered by a balky right knee almost all of last season (he sustained a sprain right MCL on a knee-to-knee hit with the Flyers' Mike Knuble), and it gets some of the blame for the dramatic falloff in his goal scoring. After getting eight in his first 14 games, Craig had just six the rest of the way. Craig said the knee is not an issue and he shed took 10 pounds during the summer to give himself another half step and to take some weight off his knees.

But after he was awarded an $850,000 contract in arbitration, the Lightning took Craig off the fourth line in favor of Craig Macdonald. Does the Lightning really believe MacDonald, who had three goals in 25 games last season for the Blackhawks, is ahead of Craig?

Perhaps it is just a wakeup call, that with his new contract, he had better lift his performance. I will say this, Tampa Bay hasn't been shy in the past about sending guys with one-way contracts to the minors. We saw it last year with Andy Delmore and Sean Burke.

That said, Craig made a real impact last season when he was healthy. It was a pleasure to watch him work in front of the net, and you could never question his work ethic or commitment. So doesn't he deserve the benefit of the doubt? Doesn't he deserve that fourth line?

To his credit, Craig said it doesn't matter where he is slotted going into camp. It is not going to change the way he works. He even channeled coach John Tortorella when he said he figures everybody goes intocamp with a clean slate.

Hard not to root for a guy like that.