INSIDE HOCKEY

In a span of just under a week, the Tampa Bay Lightning have turned a sore spot in their roster into a potential source of strength heading into the 2009-10 season.

Five days after selecting franchise defenseman Victor Hedman with the second overall pick at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Lawton continued to mold his defense on the opening day of unrestricted free agency adding rugged blue-liner Matt Walker from the Blackhawks and versatile veteran Mattias Ohlund from the Canucks.

The news is definitely something for Lightning fans to get excited about after seeing a revolving door of 17 defenseman suit up for the team at one point or another in 2008-09. But quantity clearly didn’t equate into quality as Tampa Bay finished with the third worst goals against in the entire NHL with 279 goals surrendered, tied with the New York Islanders. Only the Atlanta Thrashers (280) and Toronto Maple Leafs (293) surrendered more goals in the 2008-09 season. The Lightning also had just 13 goals come from the blue-line last season, with Cory Murphy leading the way with five.

In Matt Walker, the Blackhawks get a hard-nosed, dependable player who should be a stabilizing force on the back end. He had his best statistical campaign with Chicago last season appearing in a career-high 65 games, netting a career-high 14 points (1-13-4) and tying a career-high with a +7 rating. He also appeared in all 17 playoff games during the Blackhawks run to the Western Conference Final.

But the big news of the day is definitely the addition of former Vancouver defenseman Mattias Ohlund, a veteran of nearly 800 NHL regular season games and over 50 post-season contests. Despite being Vancouver’s all-time franchise leader in goals (93) and points (325) by a defenseman, those who followed the Canucks closely knew Ohlund’s time in Vancouver was numbered as early as the start of last season.

The team and player reportedly had zero discussions on a contract extension during the season and the writing was on the wall once youngster Alex Edler signed a four-year pact worth $3.25 annually in a deal that kicks in next season.

With the Canucks needing to free up cap space to re-sign the Sedin twins, as well as forward Ryan Kesler and goaltender Roberto Luongo who are both entering the final year of their contracts respectively, the soon-to-be 33-year old Ohlund became a commodity the Canucks could no longer afford.

Ohlund’s greatest strength is undoubtedly his all-around play. He saw limited power play time in Vancouver’s last season but still managed to finish with six goals and 25 points – numbers that would have made him Tampa’s leading scorer for a defenseman. He was tasked mostly with shutdown duty and routinely saw the top players on the opposition side but still managed to finish with a plus-14 rating. He is also known for his propensity to throw big hits and is not averse to dropping the gloves in the right situations.

According to nhlnumbers.com, the Lightning now have eight defenseman under contract for next season and it is expected Victor Hedman will join that group and become the ninth. The Lightning also made qualifying offers to restricted free agents Matt Lashoff, Matt Smaby and Mike Lundin which could bring that number up to 12 before all is said and done.