Kubina Bolts to Tampa

The Lightning have jumped into the free agent fray again on Friday with a deal that secures a scoring defenseman for the 2011 season by giving Pavel Kubina a 2-year deal that is valued at $7.7 million, which is a $3.85 million cap hit per season. It looks like the Lightning got themselves a good deal with bringing Kubina back to their fold, he'll be a very reasonable performer with the offensive talent they already have in place.

In 2010 with the Thrashers, Kubina finished 30th among all defensemen in scoring with 38 points (6 goals and 32 assists) in 76 games on a team that had its fair share of offense in the days that Ilya Kovalchuk was in town, but it did kind of fall off afterwards. Now, Kubina will be playing on a power play with two of the top 10 scorers in the league and as quarterback of that power play (potentially), he could figure in with a few more assists. This could be a good year for Kubina.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Steven Stamkos	Pavel Kubina	Dan Ellis
Martin St. Louis	Victor Hedman	Mike Smith
Vincent Lecavalier	Mattias Ohlund
Ryan Malone	Matt Walker

The Lightning are still putting together their portfolio for the year and things get a little easier when you have your top three defensemen signed, your superstar forwards signed and a goaltending tandem locked up and it all comes together at a cap rate of $37.7 million. This sort of flexibility won't last with Stamkos due for a raise in a year's time, but the Lightning can really plan for that day with some flexible contracts in 2011.