As rumored weeks ago, the Lightning have signed Finnish netminder Fredrik Norrena to a one year contract.

Norrena, 32, recorded 37 saves in a 5-0 victory against Canada in the bronze-medal game. He led the tournament in goals-against average (1.11), save percentage (.951) and shutouts (three), and also appeared in two games for the silver medal-winning Finns at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Italy, recording a pair of shutouts.

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Norrena, selected in the seventh round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, has a 9-3 record (including seven shutouts) in 12 international starts for Finland in the Olympics (2006) and World Championships (2002, 2004-06).

Of course, this does not end the Lightning’s quest for goaltending help and I expect another signing or player movement. Just don’t look for hte big-name acquisition that everyone has been expecting.

Pete and Chad over at Bolt Prospects have some news on the goalie front for the Lightning:

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.

Johan Holmquivst and Karri Ramo are also discussed in the article. Holmquivst, in fact, has his own article on BP stemming from multiple foreign rumors of the Lightning trying to acquire his services..

No word on terms, no word on structure, no word on anything but the news reported by WFLA Newschannel 8 late last night and mirrored in the Tampa Tribune is that Pat Morris and Jay Feaster have hammered out a new contract for Brad.

More details as they come to light.

Update: Thank you TSN. $39 million dollar deal over five years. Whoa.

This is something that can be looked like as handcuffing the franchise financially– even if it locks up the teams best player. Unlike the Lecavalier deal last year, I do believe the money is wisely invested in Brad who is indeed the team’s franchise player (while Lecavalier gets all the talk and press). Between Brad, Vinny and Martin St. Louis, half the cap (projected cap) $19.1 million is invested in three players. Meanwhile — Ruslan Fedotenko is a restricted free agent, Pavel Kubina (one of the few veterans left on the Lightning defense) is an Unrestricted free agent..

Update #2: The Lightning’s payroll tracker from TSN can be found here. 13 players under contract with only 12 of them playing (the 13th man and his 625K cap hit is Dave Andreychuk). They stand with a $33.327 million cap hit as of right now.

The Lightning’s complete Free Agent list (both RFA’s and UFA’s) can be found here along with the free agents of every other team in the NHL.

Most of the lower line players — Ryan Craig, Evgeny Artyuhkin, Martin Cibak and Dmitry Afanasenkov — are restricted free agents. It’ll be interesting to see if any movement is made to bring back players who were overseas this past year (Nikita Alexeev, Eric Perrin and UFA Shane Willis) or if costs will dictate their further exile from the Lightning. Willis is a UFA and Perrin is group IV. Only Alexeev, who played for Avasgaard Omsk last season, is an RFA.

Update #3: Just wanted to repost the numbers that are being passed around out there on the Internet right now with regards to what Brad’s accomplished (and his value to the team because of it):

• He is the only player in franchise history to post five consecutive 60-point seasons and three consecutive 70-point seasons
• He has missed only two games in his first five seasons*
• He ranks fifth in team history with 107 goals
• He ranks ninth in the NHL in points during the past five seasons (368), first on the Lightning and among players 26 or younger
• Since the 2000-01 season, he ranks third in the NHL in assists with 261, trailing only Joe Thornton and Jaromir Jagr
• He ranks second among NHL forwards in games played since 2000-01 (408)

* sidenotes: Richards 2 games missed were while attending the funeral for his grandfather.

Vinny Lecavalier outweighs Brad Richards in tenure and certain statistics but with overall value to the team… Richards wins. I’ve said it before.

But is anyone worth that kind of money? Several fans around the league know that’s not the truth… And several fans of pro-sports in general can attest that large, lump-sum contracts on even the most talented of players can be a drag over time on their respective franchises.

Update #4: One of the evils of the Richards contract being done so quickly with such a high number is that it sets the bar for the upcoming free agent season. We’re not out of May and the bar for a marquee restricted free agent is 7.8 million dollars.

Anyone remember my post last year complaining about players not taking less for the sake of maintaining the competativeness of their teams? That’s perfectly true in this case and any optimism shown by this signing is trying to put a silver lining on a rather cloudy, grey season of Lightning hockey.

I still firmly believe that the reprocussions of the new CBA and teams and players throwing out more big money contracts isn’t going to truly be felt for a few years (maybe next offseason, or the following) when rosters get crunched… If the salary cap ceiling keeps climbing, though, it’s going to take longer for sanity to be reigned in.

And by the way — new poll up here on Boltsmag on the Richards contract.

There are a number of things with the Lightning that are and were under the microscope this season — be it there play under the new system, goaltending, or defense… Goaltending was by far and away the most scrutinized aspect for the Bolts… Or Brad Richards looming restricted free agent status (which has been on the mouth of journalists since Martin St. Louis signed his contract before pre-season).

Yet I’ve wondered time and again about other problems with the team — problems that the talking-heads weren’t talking about while they waited for more offense that didn’t come… The current poll on the left sidebar represents four characteristics I thought were dismissed during the regular season:

• Lack of Challenging incumbents (veterans) during pre-season — This wasn’t a shocker to me. It’s John Tortorella’s consistent habit during “Camp Torturella”: give as much playing time to the guys who are locks for the roster and screw the minor leaguers. The problem with that logic this year is that veterans were complacent and weren’t ready to play under the new NHL rules. Three rookies cracked the Lightning roster and stayed there during the course of the season — and yet you have to wonder why Paul Ranger, Evgeny Artyukhin and Ryan Craig weren’t given more of a chance during the pre-season? Add to it the goaltenders in the Lightning system who were in camp initially — why weren’t the rookie goalies given more chances if goaltending was the biggest question mark for the team going into the season — and you have all the makings of writing off the future of the franchise. Torts learned the hard way this season that you can’t do that. More on that in a minute.
• Craig Ramsey and Special Teams — this is the most painful selection to write about… Painful because I feel like I am kicking a guy while he’s down. Craig Ramsey, as you may recall, battled prostate cancer during the year and missed a few games in January after having surgery that removed his prostate. Rammer’s focus — as with the entire team — just didn’t seem right all season and it showed on special teams. The Lightning finished the 2005-06 season ranked 23rd on the power play and 20th on the penalty kill. Their post-season performances led to the team being ranked 12th and 16th in those two respective categories. I don’t know if my blame is misplaced on Ramsey and should be on Tortorella or on the defense — but horrid is as horrid does. 11 Short handed goals and 11 allowed short handed goals also accompany the above ranking stats.
• John Tortorella’s “nice guy” Act – This is a continuation of the thought from the first section. John Tortorella is known as a hard ass, he’s know for being blunt, being brash, calling out players and alienating them in the media if they are performing a shit job. It’s worked too, yet John wasn’t John this year. He would shit on his goaltending and then retract the statements a few days later. He gave the benefit of the doubt too often to his veterans — Dave Andreychuk especially — hoping everyone would get there head out of their ass and start playing like they are capable.

  The Andreychuk situation is what underlines Tortorella being very out-of-character this year. Maybe it was justified because he was trying to show the respect that was due to his teams captain? Tortorella gave Andreychuk every opportunity to show that he could play in the new NHL and it (possibly) had an adverse affect on the roster — by not pulling the trigger earlier.

  The scratched practices for rest, the preferred treatment in training camp… It may have worked in the stretch run of a normal NHL season but last season was anything but normal, with thanks to the work stoppage during the previous year.

• Lack of physical play — Until Evgeny Artyukhin landed on the roster, the idea of throwing a check seemed foreign to the Lightning early in the season. Instead of throwing around their bodies, they feared the new rules of the league and used heavy stickwork with defense. It looks rather sad when you see hockey players along the boards poking with their sticks instead of physically trying to take possession of the puck. This is the characteristic that was easiest to see as a problem for the Lightning and you saw no attention given to that fact.

So with 23 votes on the poll as of this point, I further define the poll selections and leave it to the readers to voice their thoughts…

After seeing the Lightning bitch-slapped around by the Senators during the season and in the playoffs, I did not expect to see them eliminated in five games in the next round…

Congratulations to Buffalo who advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

Well, what can be said about this?

Here’s one Lightning fan’s thoughts on things :

Maurice is considered an early favourite for coach of the year honours in 2006-07.
Paul Maurice Day in Toronto is tentatively titled for July 14.
Stanley Cup parade map being kept under wraps for now.

You can do no wrong in Leafdom!

Just to make it known what the final tally was for the last poll:

Final thoughts on the Shootout?

* Loved it: 48% (29)
* Hated It: 28% (17)
* Disliked – but It grew on me: 25% (15)

Total Votes : 61