http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=16184

Lightning VP of Hockey Operations Brian Lawton that suggest the tweaks to the defense may not yet be complete. Judging by some of the commentary recently, I'm sure many of you are very happy to read as much. Though I'd been hearing otherwise recently - since the erroneous Jason Smith report, or somewhere thereabouts - I still maintain that they could sure use another veteran rearguard. So count me among those that are cautiously optimistic after today's comments from Lawton. Let's break it down a bit ...

The top eight defensemen on this club, by most accounts, as we head rapidly towards training camp are (in no particular order) Matt Carle, Paul Ranger, Shane O'Brien, Alex Picard, Janne Niskala, Filip Kuba, Andrew Hutchinson and Mike Lundin. Most clubs carry 22 or 23 players on their active roster. I believe the max is 23 healthy bodies at any give time so, for argument's sake, let's say the Lightning break camp with 22 on the NHL roster. Generally speaking, a club will carry an extra forward and an extra defenseman. That means two of these gentlemen that I've just listed will find themselves out of the top six and one, more than likely, will make his way to the minors (or elsewhere) come "opening night" in Prague.