"He won't fit into our plans," Lawton said. "There won't be a roster spot for him. He has the right to come back and if he wants to he can, and he'll end up in Norfolk." If he does, Vrbata will still be paid $3 million, he just won't count toward Tampa Bay's salary cap number.

— Damian Cristodero, Lightning Strikes

That Radim Vrbata wants to return to the NHL isn't a surprise. The Lightning, after all, should be thankful they were able to get out from under his contract for as long as they did.

The Czech winger, who had only one NHL season with more than 20 goals and 50 points prior to signing that $9-million deal last July 1, could potentially become a big headache for Brian Lawton and friends. The Lightning are now threatening to dump him in the minors as a way to dissuade any sort of comeback, but Vrbata's got $6-million reasons to make the trip, even if it means riding a bus in Norfolk for a while.

He could probably help an NHL club in a depth scoring role, as he did in Phoenix when he put up 27 goals in 2007-08, but not at that salary. It'd be better for everyone involved if he could be dealt, and Cristodero believes there's some chance of that happening, but you better believe the cash-strapped Lightning would have to somehow eat some of that salary.

Last season, players like Claude Lemieux, Steve Sullivan and Teppo Numminen all completed pretty remarkable comebacks to hockey, stories that made them favourites for the Masterton Trophy, but I can't see the same for Vrbata, even though he's in his prime and has played all of 20 games in the minors in his career. He may have left the league last December after struggling in limited ice time with a god awful team, but consider that, in the seven games where he played at least 15 minutes last season, he had three goals, an assist, 18 shots on goal and was plus-2.

Vrbata's biggest problem isn't that he's not a useful player — it's that he's guaranteed way too much money, regardless of where he plays in North America, and that alone makes this the unwanted comeback of the year.

They should have to buy him out if they don't have a spot for their prized UFA of 2008.