For the fifth time in their 18 year history the Tampa Bay Lightning have a new owner, as Boston financier Jeffrey Vinik purchased the club for $170 million from the troubled OK Hockey group.

The deal still has to be approved by the NHL Board of Governors but as The Globe & Mail noted it should be merely a formality, especially since it was BoG chairman and Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs who introduced Vinik to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman during the Winter Classic in Boston on New Year’s Day.

What’s encouraging about this purchase is Vinik, unlike OK Hockey, wasn’t scrambling to come up with the purchase price, paying cash on the barrelhead.

Several weeks ago I listed the Lightning amongst several struggling American-based franchises facing uncertain futures and doubted if the NHL would luck out in finding a potential buyer for the Bolts. Thankfully I was proven wrong.

Many pundits, bloggers and certainly Lightning fans are wondering what changes Vinik might bring to the team’s roster or the front office but for now the most important issue is to bring ownership stability to a franchise which has been sorely lacking that commodity throughout its history.

Over the past three years the Lightning sank from a perennial playoff contender and former Stanley Cup champion to a bottom feeder in the standings, forced to peddle away some of their top stars either in cost-cutting measures or, if the rumors about Dan Boyle’s trade to San Jose are to be believed, for personal spite.

Trade rumors have dogged team captain Vincent Lecavalier for the past two seasons despite his lengthy, expensive contract and no-movement clause.

Thanks to their seemingly revolving door ownership the Lightning forall but five of their 18 seasons have been one of the NHL’s most unstable franchises.

First there was the unknown, unseen Japanese ownership group Kokusai Green led by the mysterious Takashi Okubo which nearly ran the Lightning into the ground in its early years.

Insurance tycoon Art Williams took over in 1998 and meant well but was as one Tampa newspaper called “a hockey rube”, and put the club up for sale one year later after losing a staggering $20 million.

Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson stepped in next and it was under his tenure the Lightning turned things around. Jay Feaster was hired as general manager, John Tortorella as head coach, young stars like Lecavalier and Brad Richards blossomed into superstars, as did Calgary Flames cast-off Martin St. Louis. With then-underrated puck-moving blueliner Boyle and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin also brought into the lineup the Lightning, within five years of Davidson’s purchase, became Stanley Cup champions.

Unfortunately the Lightning would be undone in part by the very salary cap which was supposed to help it, forced to reduce its payroll following the NHL lockout and losing Khabibulin to free agency. Davidson by 2007 was in ill health and despite the team’s improvement at the gate (ranking in the top ten in attendance for three consecutive seasons following the 2004-05 lockout) and on the ice decided to sell his majority stake in the franchise, ultimately to "OK Hockey", headed by movie producer Oren Koules and land developer and former NHL player Len Barrie.

In the less than two years since OK Hockey took over full control of the Lightning it returned the franchise to the dark days of ten years prior, making seemingly one bad move after another.

There was the Boyle trade, the wild bidding on seemingly every available free agent forward in the 2008 UFA market at the expense of defense, the crazy decision to hire ESPN analyst Barry Melrose as head coach despite the fact he hadn’t coached in over thirteen years, the firing of Feaster, the disagreements between Koules and Barrie over their roster and the constant trade rumors dogging Lecavalier.

During OK Hockey's first season of ownership the Lightning after finishing dead last the season prior to Koule and Barrie taking control finished second-last overall while their gate revenue dropped from 8^th overall in 2007-08 to 21^st overall in 2008-09.

This season the Lightning have made considerable improvement over the performances of the past two years, thanks to some shrewd moves by GM Brian Lawton, the coaching of Rick Tocchet – who took over for Melrose early in the 2008-09 season – the play of St. Louis and Lecavalier and the emergence of 2008 first overall pick Steven Stamkos as a scoring star in his own right.

Despite the Lightning finding itself in a tie for seventh overall in the Eastern Conference their attendance this season has failed to improve, currently 24^th overall.

Some have cited the current recession for the Lightning’s attendance woes while some hockey snobs dismissively blame the Tampa market, but as Greg Wyshynski pointed out, fans can smell bungling and mismanagement a mile away, and those devoted hockey fans in Tampa Bay – of which there are many despite what some hockey cognoscenti will claim – simply lost faith in the long term future of the franchise under the bungled ownership of OK Hockey.

Yet for all the woes facing the Lightning over the past two years there’s a strong possibility this club could stage a significant reversal of fortune, perhaps akin to that of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Veterans St. Louis and Lecavalier remain strong offensive contributors. Stamkos is a rising star. Ryan Malone is a talented two-way forward, while gritty Steve Downie is developing nicely. Veteran blueliner Mattias Ohlund provides blueline stability as well as mentoring promising Victor Hedman. Free agent steal Antero Niittymaki has provided solid goaltending and might be an affordable re-signing given Mike Smith’s injury history.

Of course the Bolts are still a long way from the Stanley Cup contenders they once were but with the bulk of that core to build around a return to championship contention in a few years isn’t out of the question provided they have strong, stable ownership.

It remains to be seen what Vinik has in store for the Lightning in the coming years but if it’s an end to the circus-like atmosphere that has dogged this franchise for far too long it’ll be a good start.

-On a separate and sad note, my condolences to the family of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, who lost his son Brendan in a car accident in Indiana on Friday.

Wrap Around Curl has a wonderful post about Brendan’s life and legacy on her blog. Please check it out and send a prayer to the Burke family.