Former New York Rangers defenceman Anton Strålman has signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning on a five year deal that will pay him $22.5M.
Strålman, 27, is a right handed Swedish defenceman originally drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He put up solid advanced statistic numbers with the New York Rangers in the past three seasons. While originally expected to be an offensive defenceman, Anton Stralman had his best numbers were 34 points for the Columbus Blue Jackets back in 2009-2010.
The signing leaves a hole for the New York Rangers to fill on defence. Earlier today, Pierre LeBrun reported that the New York Rangers were officially out in the negotiation with Anton Stralman. He wasn’t the only loss for the Blueshirts, as Benoit Pouliot found himself in the frozen wastelands of Edmonton in order to secure a five year, $20M deal with the Oilers.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, having already added Jason Garrison, seem to finally be content with a defensive blueline also containing Victor Hedman, Matt Carle and Radko Gudas. Word was that Tampa Bay was originally interested in Matt Niskanen, formerly of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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