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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 12:35 PM

Signing Ohlund an astute move

Eric Duhatschek

Last year, the Tampa Bay Lightning were the stars of the opening day of the free-agent season – and ended up signing so many new players that they had ultimately had 18 forwards on one-way contracts by the time training camp opened.

This year, the Lightning were also first off the mark, signing ex-Canucks’ defenceman Mattias Ohlund to a new contract. The move was done strictly to help fellow Swede Victor Hedman, their 18-year-old first-round draft choice, adapt more easily to the NHL.

It is a fairly astute move, given that Ohlund played a little over 21 minutes per night last season and won’t turn 33 until September, so he figures to have three-to-five decent seasons left on a front-loaded contract with a $3.75-million (U.S.) annual salary-cap charge.

The two moves, taken together, meets the Lightning’s primary need of upgrading what was probably the worst six-man defensive unit in the NHL last season (with apologies to the New York Islanders). Since it looks as if Vincent Lecavalier is going to stay now, assuming Tampa’s Mike Smith comes back OK from injury, the Lightning might actually be competitive next season.

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Globe On Hockey Contributors

Eric Duhatschek

Eric Duhatschek

Eric was the winner of the Hockey Hall Of Fame's Elmer Ferguson award for "distinguished contributions to hockey writing" in 2001. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario's grad school of journalism, he began covering hockey in 1978 and after spending 20 years covering the NHL and the Calgary Flames, joined The Globe in 2000. Eric has covered four Winter Olympics, 19 Stanley Cup finals, every Canada Cup and World Cup since 1981, plus two world championships.

 
Allan Maki

Allan Maki

Allan joined The Globe in 1997 after spending 19 years as a reporter and columnist at the Calgary Herald. Born in Thunder Bay, he graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 1977. A past president of the Football Writers of Canada, Allan has covered every Grey Cup since 1980. He's been to seven Olympic Games and covered everything from rodeos to the World Series to the Super Bowl.

 

James Mirtle

James Mirtle joined The Globe as an editor and reporter in the sports department in 2005 and now covers the Toronto Maple Leafs. A graduate of Ryerson University and Thompson Rivers University, he has written about hockey from junior on up the past decade and has a background in new media, statistical analysis and blogging. You can follow him on Twitter here.

 

Matthew Sekeres

Matthew is The Globe's national sports correspondent in B.C., covering the Canucks, Lions and other sports happenings on the west coast. Montreal-born and Ottawa-raised, Matthew is a graduate of Carleton University's School of Journalism. He has worked at four metropolitan dailies and for TSN. Matthew has covered the Beijing Olympics, three Super Bowls, the NBA Finals, nine Grey Cups and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

David Shoalts

A native of Wainfleet, Ont., David joined The Globe in 1984 as a layout and copy editor in the sports section. He attended the University of Waterloo and Conestoga College. After graduating in 1978, he worked at the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and later the Toronto Sun. He has covered the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL since 1990 and became a hockey columnist in 2003.

 

Darren Yourk

Darren is the editor of globesports.com and host of the Hockey Roundtable podcast.