TRADING PARTNER

I bet you didn’t know that four of the last ten trades made by the Stars have been with the Tampa Bay Lightning, including last February’s blockbuster that brought Brad Richards to Dallas.

As for the least tapped markets? The Stars haven’t made a swap with Edmonton Oilers since they acquired Brent Gilchrist for Todd Elik in 1993, and they haven’t made a trade with Detroit since 1983 when they moved hard shooting Ken Solheim for future considerations. Perhaps they’re still considering those considerations.

Other Tampa notes:

· They announced just under 14,000 at the Times Forum last night but they must have been counting earlobes. If they’d have said there were 8,000 bodies in seats they’d have been only slightly exaggerating – and it was Richards Returns Night for crying out loud!

· The Lightning are one of the biggest teams in the league, averaging 6-2 210 pounds. Even their stoppers are huge - both goalies are 6-4 and 220 pounds. The different ends of the scale: Evgeny “Animal” Artyukhin is 6-5 260, rookie Steven Stamkos is listed at a very generous 180 pounds, and former league MVP Martin St.Louis is an elfin 5-8 178.

· Three former NHL Coach of Year recipients were in attendance; Scotty Bowman, Pat Burns, and Bill Barber. That reminds me, the Lightning are currently paying three head coaches; Rick Tocchet, Barry Melrose and John Tortorella.

One final “did you know”. Are you aware that lightning is thin as a pencil and hotter than the face of the sun? (No, Paris Hilton is not made of lightning.)