Dwayne Roloson and Tampa Bay Lightning agree on one-year, $3 million contract –NHL offseason Update
Dwayne Roloson has been moving all over the place since joining the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1996-1997 season, so it is not a surprise that Tampa Bay Lightning and Roloson have agreed on a one-year contract worth $3 million before he would
have become an unrestricted free agent on Friday, July 1.
Roloson started his professional ice hockey career with Calgary Flames which lasted for only two seasons and then shifted to Buffalo Sabres which had him for the same time.
Then it was St. Louis Blues followed by Minnesota Wild, Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders and finally Tampa Bay in January of 2011.
He might not have been a big part of Lightning during the regular season, but was without a doubt, extremely valuable to them as they reached the Eastern Conference Finals against Boston Bruins, but lost in a close seven-game series.
Till Wednesday evening, negotiations had been going on between the 41-year-old goalie and there was not a clue about what had happened, with only a day remaining till the free agency started.
Late at night, the breaking news was revealed that Roloson and Tampa Bay had come on mutual terms.
"He played very well for us down the stretch, a veteran leader", Tampa Bay's general manager, Steve Yzerman, said in a statement on Wednesday. "We're happy to bring him back for another year".
In an attempt to keep Roloson fresh and healthy next season, the GM has also expressed his wish to sign backup goalie, Mike Smith, to assist the veteran player whenever he needs rest.
"We don't want to burn Roli out and play him 70 games. That's not the intention", Yzerman said. "We're hoping to have two goalies we can put out there and feel good about".
Steve Yzerman has a lot on his hands at the moment, since the Tampa Bay team is facing a shortage of players due to their contracts expiring and them becoming free agents, but he is dedicated to solve the problems as soon as possible to give Lightning a
much better chance next season.
Rumour has it that if Roloson thinks about staying after next season, Yzerman is open to offering him a bigger contract.
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