The Tampa Bay Lightning have a fairly solid goaltending tandem now with the signing of Dan Ellis to a new 2-year deal worth $3 million. Ellis' rights were dealt to the Canadiens from the Predators, but the Habs failed to seal the deal with the veteran goalie, sending him to the open market this afternoon. Ellis will join Mike Smith to form a formidable pairing, likely going to start the season in a platoon format, probably to decide a number one.Ellis had a 15-13-1 record with the Predators in 2010, with a shutout and an assist, giving him 32 pool points in the year, ranking him 35th among goalies. He actually comes into this off-season with better numbers than his new teammate, giving Ellis a slight edge for top billing in Tampa Bay.
This is a good deal at a reasonable price for Steve Yzerman and his Lightning team. Tampa only has 9 players set to contracts at the moment of this blog post, with a cap hit of $33.9 million, giving Yzerman all sorts of flexibility to build around Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier, Mattias Ohlund, Victor Hedman and their goaltending. The Lightning are in a good position to build and I'll be keeping a close eye on them through the Summer, much like every team.
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