Tampa Bay Sign Hedman and Niittymaki
July 10, 2009 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under NHL, Players, Signings and Contracts, Tampa Bay Lightning
You probably won’t be shocked to learn that the Tampa Bay Lightning have signed Victor Hedman to a standard three-year-rookie deal. The second overall pick was drafted by the team last month where he was rated as the top European player available.
General manager Brian Lawton said yesterday: “We are thrilled to be able to take this next step with Victor today. He has a bright future and we intend on him being a member of the Lightning for a long time. We are excited to get his signing behind us so he can solely focus on hockey and the continued development of his game.”
Let’s just hope he has a better year than the team’s last star rookie addition, Steven Stamkos.
Today, the Lightning also added Antero Niittymaki to their line up. The Finnish netminder (who I like to call titty smacky) posted a 15-8-6 record with a .912 save percentage and a 2.76 goals-against average with the Flyers last season. GM Lawton said: “we fully recognized the need to add an experienced back-up goaltender this summer and today we feel we’ve accomplished that goal.” said Lightning executive vice president and general manager Brian Lawton. “Not only is Antero already an established number two in the NHL who can steal games, but we feel he is very capable of working with Mike Smith to give us a formidable 1-2 punch in goal.”
I think that this was a really smart move on their part and I think that Niittymaki is a great backup goaltender. He certainly did well backstopping the Finnish National Team at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games where they won the silver medal. He posted an incredible 5-1-0 record (including three shutouts), 1.34 GAA and .951 save percentage at the Games and was named the Best Goalie and the Olympic Tournament MVP.
With some support and a good goaltending coach, I think Niittymaki could become a great starting goaltender.
