In a crazy day of NHL free agent signings, the Bolts remained quiet for some time, until they finally got their defenseman. The Lightning signed Anton Stralman to a five-year, $22.5 million contract.
Stralman had a solid season with the New York Rangers and it got even better in the playoffs. He is a solid defenseman and has a great shot. The 5-foot-11, 190 pound blueliner provides the right handed defenseman the Bolts have lacked since Dan Boyle left.
The 27 year old is a seven-year veteran who has played with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets and Rangers. He was originally selected in the seventh round of the draft by the Maple Leafs (216th overall). The Tibro, Sweden native has scored 18 goals and dished out 94 assists in 394 career games. He had five assists and and a +4 rating in the playoffs last season.
The addition of Stralman will vastly improve the Bolts defense. The pairings now look like this: Victor Hedman-Stralman, Matt Carle–Jason Garrison, Eric Brewer–Radko Gudas and Mark Barberio with Andrej Sustr getting much needed minutes in Syracuse
Tampa Bay also signed forward Brian Boyle to a three year, $6.9 million deal. Boyle scored six goals in 82 games during this past regular season, averaging 12:46 of ice time per game. He was a fourth liner for the Rangers in the playoffs, but will most likely given more of an opportunity under coach Jon
Cooper’s tutelage. In 2010-11 he scored a career-high 21 goals.
“Tampa was the right fit for him,” agent Paul Krepelka said. “His role with the team, the coaching staff, familiarity with Ryan Callahan and some of the guys. I don’t think they have many kids who can do what he does, that’s why they pursued him. He’s excited for the opportunity, a good team, good franchise, good area to live in.” Krepelka went on to say that Toronto offered more, but he wanted to be in Tampa. The Bolts had help in landing him as his wife is from Tampa. The two are currently honeymooning in Hawaii.
This signing is a strange one, It seems that GM Yzerman added Boyle to replace Nate Thompson who he traded.
The Bolts got their backup goalie in the form of Evgeni Nabokov. Tampa Bay signed him to a one year contract. The 39 year old spent the last three seasons with the New York Islanders Nabby went.15-14 in 40 games last year with a 2.74 goals against average and a .905 save percentage.
The Nabokov signing likely means both Andrei Vasilevskiy and Kristers Gudlevskis will start the season with the Crunch.
The Lightning re-signed forward Mike Angelidis to a one-year, two-way contract. Angelidis, 29, skated in 75 games with the Syracuse Crunch last season, producing 12 goals, 33 points and 161 penalty minutes. He was
second on the Crunch in penalty minutes and fifth in points. Angelidis has been captain of the Crunch since the beginning of the 2012-13 season. (Photo/Susan Ferlita)
Former Lightning defenseman Mike Kostka signed with the New York Rangers. P.C, Labrie reached agreement with the Chicago Blackhawks. Keith Aulie signed with the Edmonton Oilers, goalie Cedrick Desjardins went to the Rangers and goalie Anders Lindback inked a one year deal with the Dallas Stars.
Tampa Bay signed journeyman winger Mike Blunden, who spent most of last season with Hamilton in the AHL and had 18 goals and 37 points. He is a veteran of 102 career NHL games with the Canadiens, Columbus Blue Jackets and the Blackhawks.
Also today, Syracuse Crunch defenseman Dmitry Korobov decided to play in the KHL this season. Korobov, 25, has played in 136 games with the Crunch the past two seasons, accumulating six goals and 42 assists. He played in three games with Tampa Bay last season. The Bolts will retain his rights until he is age 27.
After day one of Free Agent Frenzy, the Bolts have $5.7 million left in cap space. GM Steve Yzerman says he expects to sign restricted free agents Andrej Sustr, Brett Connolly and Richard Panik. He talks about the days events below:
Steve Yzerman and the Lightning have had a busy couple of weeks. Good trades, solid drafting and logical free agent signings that addressed their needs have the Bolts poised to be very good this year and into the future.
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