Lightning Add Depth

Trying to catch-up with some of the roster signings (not so much of the depth signings), brings me to Tampa Bay, where the Lightning signed both Nate Thompson and Paul Szczehura on Friday to new 1-year deals. Both players were restricted free agents this Summer and should help to fill their fourth line spots pretty well for almost-minimum cap hits.

Thompson has been trying to find a regular job in the NHL as a rugged winger and he will get a second look from the Lightning in 2011, after acquiring him from Long Island midway through the 2010 season. He doesn't come with many points, nor does he take too many penalties, so he'll be a guy that just grinds out minutes for the club in 2011.

Szczehura plays the same sort of role as Thompson, not too many points, not too many penalties (even less, actually) and eats 13 to 18 minutes per game on a 3rd line. He doesn't have much for fantasy value, but he'll likely get a bit more time, which could translate into some more chances, possibly a few more points.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Steven Stamkos	Pavel Kubina	Dan Ellis
Martin St. Louis	Victor Hedman	Mike Smith
Vincent Lecavalier	Brett Clark
Ryan Malone	Mike Lundin
Teddy Purcell	Mattias Ohlund
Nate Thompson	Matt Walker
Paul Szczechura

The Lightning are not struggling for salary cap space this Summer and the additions of Thompson and Szczehura only help that along. They are trying to get a little bit closer to the salary cap floor with these two signings, now bringing their player totals up to 15 signed for $41.9 million. They do have a couple of buyouts, but I'm not too worried about those right now. If they were getting closer to the cap ceiling, then I would care a little bit more.

I'm not terribly impressed by the Lightning line-up thus far, but at the same time, they might not have to be terribly impressive on paper to do great things in the Southeast Division. The core group of forwards is really what is going to hold this team together and the additions of Kubina, Clark and Ellis do show that management is prepared to take this club in the right direction, but I would be a tad hesitant to say that the Lightning are going to explode out of the blocks and take the Eastern Conference by storm.  Personally, I'll make a play for Stamkos at my draft, possibly Kubina and Ellis, but that might be about it.