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.

Matt Smaby
   
Matt Lashoff
   
Blair Jones
   
Martins Karsums
   
Mike Lundin
   

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.

Talks Re-Opened with Norrena and Other News

Submitted by chad on May 23, 2006 - 14:05

Bolt Prospects has learned the Tampa Bay Lightning has indeed re-opened talks with Finnish Olympic goaltender Fredrik Norrena. In fact, the two sides have been in talks since before the 2006 World Championships. Norrena and the Lightning agreed to a contract last summer, but Norrena backed out of the agreement causing Tampa to temporarily shut the door on the chances of signing the Linkoping goaltender in 2006. That door, according to GM Jay Feaster, has not been shut completely, and in fact has now been re-opened.

Norrena, a 6'0", 190 pound 7th round pick of the Lightning in 2002, is coming off a 5-0, 37-save shutout vs. Sidney Crosby and Canada at the World Championships in the Bronze Medal game.

Bolt Prospects has also been told the Lightning cannot confirm or comment on reports from at least two Swedish newspapers stating the Bolts are in negotitations with World Championship Gold Medal winning goaltender Johan Holmqvist.

In addition, negotiations continue with three young prospects:

Justin Keller, the 51-goal scorer from the WHL's Kelowna Rockets, is close to completing a deal with Tampa Bay.

Blair Jones, the WHL's 6th leading scorer and playoff hero for the Moose Jaw Warriors, has been offered a contract but the two sides remain significantly far apart.

Karri Ramo, who played for Finland in this past year's World Junior Championships and was a member of the SM-Liiga winning HPK, has also been in talks with Tampa but is also asking for more than the Lightning are planning to offer at this point. Ramo was dubbed a "future stud" by Lightning goaltending coach Jeff Reese in the 2006 The Hockey News Future Watch report.