Bolts Shore Up Defense On First Day of Free Agency

The Tampa Bay Lightning continued the retooling of their suspect blue line with three signings on the first day of free agency.

Tampa Bay re-signed defenseman Lukas Krajicek. Krajicek led the Lightning in points and blocked shots by a defenseman.

After that seemed like a good move, the Lightning weren't done yet.

The Lightning followed up that move with their biggest of the day, securing veteran defenseman Mattias Ohlund to a seven-year $26.25 million dollar contract.

The 32-year-old Swede was signed as a mentor for first round draft choice Viktor Hedman. Ohlund, 6-foot-2, 227 pounds, has skated in 770 career NHL games, all with Vancouver.  He has amassed 93 career goals and 325 points with 36 power play goals and 19 game-winning goals. 

He was second on the Vancouver Canucks in plus/minus with a plus-14 rating last season.

Tampa Bay wrapped up day one with the signing of gutty former Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Matt Walker. The 29-year-old signed a four-year deal at $1.7 million per season. Walker brings a much needed aggressive defensive attitude to the Bolts. He's a tough checker, clears out the front of his net and is a plus defenseman.

"Matt is the big, physical, intimidating presence that we lacked on the blue line last season," said Brian Lawton in a Lightning press release. "He is a high-character, team-first player and he demonstrated that last season, going right back in a playoff game after suffering an ugly, ugly broken finger. He is just the type of player that we were looking for to fill a specific defensive need." 

All in all a good first day for the Lightning along the blue line.

The Lightning will likely focus on finding a solid back up goaltender and perhaps a top six forward if funds remain available.