Lightning Acquire Rights to Brian Rolston

[Thrillhouse]

TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired the rights to right wing Brian Rolston from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a conditional 2009 or 2010 draft choice, owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie announced.

"As we said earlier this week and we are trying to prove after making our deal with Pittsburgh yesterday, we will work feverishly to improve the Lightning team for the 2008-09 season," owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie said. "We believe getting the Lightning a head start in the negotiating and signing process can help us secure the players we are targeting. Nothing is guaranteed here, but we hope to have a chance to get another quality player in a Lightning uniform sooner rather than later."

Rolston, 35, has skated in 977 career games with New Jersey, Colorado, Boston and Minnesota, tallying 286 goals, 634 points and 372 penalty minutes. A 6-foot-2, 214-pound native of Flint, Michigan, Rolston skated in 81 games with the Wild in 2007-08, tallying 31 goals, 59 points and 53 penalty minutes. Since signing with Minnesota as a free agent prior to 2005-06 Rolston has scored at least 30 goals in the past three seasons, while averaging 29 goals during the past six seasons.

Originally drafted 11th overall by New Jersey in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, Rolston played two seasons at Lake Superior State (winning a National Championship in 1991-92) before making his NHL debut with the Devils in 1994-95. He played parts of six seasons with New Jersey and part of a season with Colorado before joining Boston, where he set a then-career high with 31 goals and 62 points in 2001-02. He joined the Wild after four seasons with the Bruins and established new career bests with 34 goals, 45 assists and 79 points in 2005-06. The left-handed shooting winger often plays the point on the power play, and he has tallied 76 career power-play goals with 39 in the past three seasons. He also led the league in shorthanded points in 2001-02 (10) and 2002-03 (7).

Rolston has represented the USA on many occasions, including the World Junior Championships (1991, 1992, 1993), the World Championships (1996), the World Cup (1997, 2005) and the Oylmpics (1994, 2002, 2006).

[jkidd]

The latest...

9:03 p.m. update: NHL hasn’t approved this yet. There are some conditions that have to do with Tampa being able to sign Rolston. This is speculation, but I’m guessing the fourth-rounder Tampa sent to Pittsburgh is in play. Tampa’s probably saying it has the pick back now that it signed Malone (PIttsburgh gets a third in that case), but if the contract hasn’t yet been approved by the NHL, does Tampa own that fourth again? This is just speculation, and in fact could be totally incorrect, but since it’s hung up right now, something’s going on. Hope this makes sense to you. I’m working on about 12 different stories right now.

per Mike Russo

[Snipes19]

It's a done deal:

9:42 p.m. The trade is done. It’s for a conditional draft pick with three different conditions apparently depending on whether Rolston signs with Tampa Bay or not. The conditions will be spelled out to me in a little bit. I’m up against deadline, so I’ll be back later.

Link

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Wow, Tampa Bay is REALLY loading up. They are acquiring everybody - Prospal, Roberts, Malone, and now Rolston. Holy **** their offense is going to be good with Vinny, Marty, Stamkos, Prospal, Malone, Roberts, Rolston, etc.

And they certainly weren't joking when they said they were going to be active and become more competitive and tougher this offseason. Roberts and Malone add grit as well as skill, and Rolston adds a lot of offense combined with great leadership. Fantastic trade for the Lightning to pick up Brian Rolston, who is an awesome hockey player. I was hoping the Blues would acquire him, because he's a guy that every team wants on their roster.

Tampa Bay isn't fooling around. They are putting together a great team with that offense - plus they still have Dan Boyle on the point too. Combine that with the toughness they have and watch out - they will be a team to look out for in the East next year as I'm expecting them to have a really good year. Their ownership has done a great job so far this offseason, and the hiring of Barry Melrose just makes it even better for that club.

Tampa Bay fans have got to be very excited right now.

[jkidd]

At least its not going to be a team in the NW or in the West at all. If the Bolts are actually able to resign him.

[R.Middleton]

Damn, Tampa Bay is not messing around.

[Thrillhouse]

This is a solid move to help shore up their defense.











Bahaha, what are they doing? Who's gonna stop the puck from going in?

[jkidd]

Originally Posted by Thrillhouse

This is a solid move to help shore up their defense.











Bahaha, what are they doing? Who's gonna stop the puck from going in?

Ummm.... Patrick Lalime....?

Who the hell is the goalie down in Tampa? Didn't they just waive Denis?

[Snipes19]

Originally Posted by jkidd

Ummm.... Patrick Lalime....?

Who the hell is the goalie down in Tampa? Didn't they just waive Denis?

Their goalie is Mike Smith. He was the main piece that they got from Dallas in return for Brad Richards.

Granted, he's not what you'd call an all-star goalie like Nabakov or anything, but he's still pretty solid between the pipes nonetheless. If they could sign a goalie like Ty Conklin or something in the offseason, then I think they'd be fine with that duo in net because they just need a suitable backup for Smith. Their offense looks to be very good though - which automatically puts them in the playoff picture in the East, IMO. And with Boyle on the point too, Smith is a good enough goalie for them to do some damage with. Their team next year will score some goals with all of that offensive fire-power, so I actually don't think Tampa fans should be too worried about their situation in net.

[devils29]

I hear that Andrew Raycroft and Ray Emery are available to be #1

[Yoke]

Good move to make when you find out that the guy isn't going to sign with you.


His agent is a bag of douche.

[FightingIsGood]

WTF??? Are the Bolts going to hog up every damn free agent??? How the hell are they going to pay Rolston what he wants when they'll be shelling out almost $30 million for 5 players and will still have to round out the rest of the team? Oh well, whatever...good for them if they can get it done.

I do agree though - where's the defense going to come from? And while Mike Smith is a good, young goalie, he isn't exactly a superstar.

[DARCY T]

Originally Posted by Thrillhouse

This is a solid move to help shore up their defense.











Bahaha, what are they doing? Who's gonna stop the puck from going in?

smith is gonna be one of the top goalies in the league

[BGDDYKWL]

Gonna be a lot of 6-5 type games in Tampa this year. Many viewed the Melrose hiring as a publicity type move, and in that they are clearly focusing on bringing in both toughness and talent, it sure seems as though ownership is quite intent on producing a very entertaining product. As has been mentioned, I'm still a little leery about the defense/goaltending. Either way though, they have enough talent there to be a solid team. And who knows, the way things are going they'll probably acquire Redden's rights tomorrow.

[DaleHunter32]

the mullet is really firing all his bullets before the war even starts. Wasting all these "rights to sign" guys for draft picks, where the hell will they be 2-3 years down the road when they have no picks?
I think they could have easily got the majority of these guys on day 1 of the FA market if they just waited. IMO the Mullet is coming out of the blocks very fast, but let's see how he finishes

[skacore]

I think when Tuesday comes around the Bolts will be quick to scoop up 1 of Commodore or Vandermeer to fill out their back end and contribute to the team toughness they've been talking about