Tampa Bay Lighting owner Oren Koules hopes to sign Vinny Lecavalier to a nine year, $77 million contract extension. After that contract is over, he hopes to see Lecavalier working as a team executive similar to what Steve Yzerman does with the Red Wings.

“We absolutely do,” Koules said. “We’ve already talked to Vinny about it. When we talked, we talked about lifestyle, about how long he wants to live here. He wants to retire here when he’s done, and he wants to be part of this.

“We look at Stevie Y as the exact model of what we want to do with Vinny.”

Koules was speaking of Steve Yzerman, who after 22 seasons with the Red Wings moved immediately into a vice president position working with the senior vice president, Jim Devellano, and general manager Ken Holland.