So exactly what is Mike Vernon going to do for the Lightning? He will be based in Calgary, where he was a star goalie for all those years and won the 1989 Stanley Cup title. Owner Len Barrie said Vernon will be kind of a right-hand man and jack-of-all trades. Barrie said Vernon will be a sounding board on player personnel issues. He will be a scout, if need be, in the western part of North America. If a goalie prospect needs attention, Vernon could be dispatched there as well.

There is certainly a lot of confidence there, and it comes from familiarity.

Barrie said Vernon is the second-largest shareholder in Barrie's Bear Mountain Resort development in Victoria, British Columbia.

"I couldn't have done it without him," said Barrie, who played with Vernon with the Panthers.

Owner Oren Koules also played with Vernon in 1981-82 for the Calgary Wranglers of the Western Hockey League.

"He's a Stanley Cup champion and a Conn Smythe winner," Barrie said of Vernon. "We want to surround ourselves with winning people."

Barrie said the Lightning also wanted to hire Joe Nieuwendyk for a similar position, but Nieuwendyk took a job with the Maple Leafs.

Vernon, 45, who helped the Red Wings to the 1997 Cup title and was the Conn Smythe winner as MVP (and had that great fight with Colorado's Patrick Roy), could not immediately be reached. But Barrie said he and Vernon have long talked about Vernon getting back in the game. With a family to raise the timing was never right, until now.

"I have so much respect for him, and he's so well respected around the league," Barrie said. "You look around and you go to the draft and you see guys who surround themselves with people who have won. You can't be afraid to put strong-willed, successful people around you, or you'll fail."