2009 Restricted Free Agents

The following players along with Lauri Tukonen were tendered qualifying offers on June 29th and their rights retained by the Lightning.

2009 Free Agent Signings

PLAYER NAME POS Years Avg/Yr
Lukas Krajicek Defense 1 year $1500000
Mattias Ohlund Defense 7 years $3750000
Matt Walker Defense 4 years $1700000

2009 Tampa Bay Lightning Draft

1 2 Victor Hedman Defense 6.06 220 lbs.
1 29 Carter Ashton Right Wing 6.03 205 lbs.
2 52 Richard Panik Right Wing 6.02 203 lbs.
4 93 Alex Hutchings Left Wing 5.10 173 lbs.
5 148 Michael Zador Goaltender 6.02 172 lbs.
6 162 Jaroslav Janus Goaltender 5.11 192 lbs.
7 183 Kirill Gotovets Defense 5.11 175 lbs.

A Closer Look at the New Admirals GM

Today's edition of the Winnipeg Sun has an expose on the rise of Winnipeg native Mike Butters from a struggling LA actor to the new GM of the AHL's Norfolk Admirals.

Quote:

Butters wound up with bit parts in Saw and some of its sequels (including Saw V, which comes out in October), and a not-so-bit part with Koules's new hockey toy, the Junior A Helena Bighorns. Acting as league commissioner, team co-owner and associate coach -- with stints as play-by-play man, radio commercial voice, even program-stuffer -- he learned the ropes of running a franchise, top to bottom.