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The Tampa Bay Lightning’s Bloggers Roundtable is back. Each week a collection of independent writers from around Bolts Nation is given the opportunity to respond to a question posed by the good people in the organization.
This week’s question explores the team’s exciting new acquisitions. I’ve included my response below; you can check out the other responses right here!
This week's topic: Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman was busy re-shaping the Bolts' roster around the NHL Draft and during free agency.Which new Bolt (Garrison, Stralman, Boyle, Nabokov) do you look forward to watching the most?
The obvious answer here is probably Anton Stralman, but I’m going to go in another direction. Why? Because I feel like we know what we’re going to get with the Swedish blueliner. He’s been a consistent, solid possession player with a knack for playing smart defense over the last few years. That signing was arguably the smartest out of every signing made on July 1st.
So, with that said, I’m going to pick Jason Garrison. I’m excited to see what he might be able to bring to a Lightning power play that struggled mightily for parts of last season. While he’s not the most physical player or the fastest player out on the ice, Garrison is a player who can make a difference. We all remember his 16-goal season with the Panthers in 2011-12; the potential for him to be a key cog in the Lightning’s machine is certainly there.
In addition, and like Stralman, Garrison has generally been a positive possession player over the last few seasons. With the exception of his one year under John Tortorella, Garrison helped to drive the bus on the blue line in both Vancouver and Florida. It’s also worth mentioning that some of this success came under the direction of Rick Bowness, who is now with the Lightning.
All in all, I think there are a number of reasons to be excited about watching Garrison play. He should be a great addition to the team’s top-four.
Let me know which acquisition you’re most excited about in the comments section!
Thanks for submitting over 100 (!) questions to the mailbag. The service I use to keep track of all the responses is telling me that I've used my 'quota' for the month, so if your question gets left out I do apologize. I’ve started drafting my responses and hope to have them posted within the next day or two.
And, as always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.