This year’s lockout
has many fans wishing the NHL would get their act together and let the players
play this season. One set of those
fans happens to be rooting for the Tampa Bay Lightning. This year would seem, at least on paper, to
be the year that the Lightning finally get the team back to a competitive
look. The Lightning were able to sign
Matt Carle, from the Philadelphia Flyers for 6 years at $33M. This 27 year-old defenseman had 38 points (4
goals and 34 assists) in the 2011-2012 season with a +4 rating. These are solid numbers from this Alaskan who
plays a physical game and averages about 23 minutes of ice-time per game. Another major signing for the blue-line was
the acquisition of the Finnish defenseman, Sami Salo. Playing most of his 13 years with Vancouver,
he is a power play specialist who scored 9 goals (7 of which on the PP)
last season. His 6’3”, 215 lbs, frame
will be valuable to a team that had the 25th overall ranked power
play in the NHL. The only downside to
his playing style is the durability issue.
Sami has proven that he lays everything on the ice by being injured
often. Sami has never played a full 82
game season in his NHL career. With
returning defensemen Marc-Andre Bergeron, Eric Brewer, Victor Hedmen and
Mattias Ohlund who is returning from injury.
That proves that the Lightning have 3 solid defensive lines. If they can resign unrestricted free agents
Mike Commodore and Brett Clark, they will have a plan in place for injuries or
player slumps. Oh....don't forget about Brian Lee too!
In the goal
situation, the Lightning improved tremendously with the acquisition of an up
and comer goaltender, Anders Lindback.
They were able to sign him to a 2 year, $3.6M contract after obtaining
his rights in a trade with Nashville that included Kyle Wilson and a 7th
round pick in the 2012 draft (used on Nikita Gusev LW from Russia). Mathieu Garon, who is the incumbent netminder
has mentioned that he is ready to share the goaltender duties with
Lindback. I believe that if Lindback
gets into mid-season form with a .912 GAA or better, Garon will be filling the back-up
role.
On the offensive
side, the 8th ranked goal per game team added Beniot Pouliot for a
minor leaguer, Michael Ouellet and a 5th round pick. Pouliot signed a 1 year, $1.8m, contract as
he comes from Boston’s high powered offense.
He had 16 goals and 16 assists while averaging 12 minutes per
game. Now, he will be expected to play
on the left side of the second line with Vincent Lecavalier and Teddy Purcell. He will surely add more points to his career
statistics and might be a nice surprise fantasy pick for you fantasy players.
Again, the NHL needs
to get the 2012-2013 season going as this year looks to be a great solid year
for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
