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Callahan Starts Strong In First Full Season with Lightning

By Greg Auman - Special to USAHockey.com, 10/20/14, 6:00PM MDT

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Callahan Part of a Strong Tampa Nucleus

When Ryan Callahan was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in March, it could have been a short stay with free agency just months away.

As such, the 28-year-old forward, who’d been a team captain with the New York Rangers, was quieter initially, leading by example when his instincts were to be more involved, both on the ice and off.

“It’s hard, when you get traded to a team, to jump in a locker room and be vocal right away,” Callahan said after a morning skate before a home game this month at Amalie Arena.

It had been a huge trade that sent Callahan and draft picks to Tampa for 38-year-old Martin St. Louis, an icon with the Lightning since he won the Hart Trophy in leading the team to a Stanley Cup championship in 2004. St. Louis would help New York to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Kings. Meanwhile, the Lightning made the playoffs, only to be swept in an opening series with Montreal.

But Callahan saw enough in 20 games with the Lightning to know he wanted to stay, so instead of the lucrative open market of free agency, he signed a six-year, $34.8-million contract a week early to stay in Tampa.

“I really enjoyed my last two months with this team, and I got a taste of the direction this team is going in,” said Callahan, a member of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team. “I was excited to be part of that. As soon as the season ended, my main goal was to try to sign back here and not get to free agency. I wanted to be a part of this organization, and thankfully that happened.”

Callahan isn’t a captain in Tampa — star Steven Stamkos, four years younger, wears that “C” — but he’s absolutely a team leader whose toughness and attitude made a quick impression on coach Jon Cooper.

“There’s definitely not an on-off switch for Callahan,” Cooper told the Tampa Bay Times this month. “He’s just on.”

Callahan even played a role in the team’s offseason acquisitions, helping convince former Rangers teammates Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman to follow his move south to Tampa. Now, with three goals in his first five games and the team out to a 3-1-1 start, Callahan is settling in and embracing Tampa as his home.

“This year, I definitely feel more comfortable, in the room and off the ice,” Callahan said of his leadership. “That’s part of who I am; part of my game as a player is being a leader. It’s something I have to do.”

Callahan’s ability to forge a quick chemistry with newcomers in a locker room has its roots in international play with Team USA. In addition to the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team, Callahan also helped Team USA win a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Callahan is now part of a strong young Tampa nucleus, including Stamkos and goalie Ben Bishop, as well as promising group of forwards who led the NHL in rookie scoring last year. It didn’t take Callahan long to see the potential in his new team last season and to feel like a natural part of that future.

“Pretty quickly. I felt comfortable right away,” he said. “That was due to the management, players, fans. A big thing was my family got down here and they liked the city.”

His family has also grown, as he and wife Kyla had a daughter, Evelyn, this summer to go with 2-year-old Charlotte. He didn’t know what he had ahead of him when he joined the Lightning just seven months ago, but knows it well now.

“[It was] a little bit of a pleasant surprise,” Callahan said of the Lightning and his optimism moving forward. “You play them three or four times a year, you don’t know what’s going on in the room. You don’t know exactly the caliber of players you have if you’re not with them every day. When I got here, I didn’t know what to expect. I couldn’t have landed in a better spot.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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