Bolts sign Vaclav Prospal

[MacK_Attack 108]

The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed forward Vaclav Prospal to a multi-year contract.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242083&amp...os=secStory_nhl

[WingMachine91 0]

boy this team is on a mission this offseason

[zenway9 1]

Now do they have the same salary cap as all the other teams? Damn!

[wingsfan979802 0]

i hope with all of these signings tampa can't afford to sign rolston. i still want to see him in detroit.

[redwings1914 18]

Impressive, Tampa managed to sign three players in just the amount of space (most likely) that Richards took up.

[Dabura 12,207]

Such is the power of The Mullet.

I'm telling ya.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

This team still doesn't get it do they?

In order to win, you need a good defense. Their defense sucks and has sucked for a long time, as has their goaltending. They've gone out so far and made all the wrong moves.

Tampa will probably suck again next year, because they haven't addressed their biggest weakness.

[Dabura 12,207]

This team still doesn't get it do they?

It's management, methinks. They brought in Melrose because they want to sell more tickets. Then they secured Vinny for the rest of his career. Now they're trying to build a stacked forward corps around him. Marketing, marketing, marketing.

Honestly, I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing this team in action. At the very least, it should be exciting to watch.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

It's management, methinks. They brought in Melrose because they want to sell more tickets. Then they secured Vinny for the rest of his career. Now they're trying to build a stacked forward corps around him. Marketing, marketing, marketing.

Honestly, I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing this team in action. At the very least, it should be exciting to watch.

But their scoring was already decent.

The problem was always that they gave up too many goals. They've spent all their money so far boosting something they already had. It's true that now they have a better 2nd line, but they're still going to be amongst the league leaders in goals given up.

Melrose was a defenseman, so I'm surprised he's fallen for this s***.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

I could've sworn this deal already went down. Must've just been a rumor. I heard something like 4 years at around 3.5M or so? I remember it being a decent contract...

[PaVel DaTsYuK fan13 0]

They're going to contend to win the division, but they won't go anywhere in the postseason without bringing in a legit d-man

[Dabura 12,207]

But their scoring was already decent.

Decent doesn't boost sales, though.

[VM1138 1,921]

This team still doesn't get it do they?

In order to win, you need a good defense. Their defense sucks and has sucked for a long time, as has their goaltending. They've gone out so far and made all the wrong moves.

Tampa will probably suck again next year, because they haven't addressed their biggest weakness.

But the year after they could be a force. I haven't crunched the numbers (don't care enough to), but if they build up their offense long-term, they can make some gains this season. Nothing substantial though. But it'll be enough to figure out who they can keep and who they can get rid of, then build their defense much the same way they did this year.

So, in a way, they're building half their team this year, half their team next year, then being a decent contender the second or third year.

It's a long-ass and unsubtle way of doing things, but maybe there is some logic to it.