from Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune,

After clearing out salary cap heading into free agency, the Lightning found a way to utilize some of that available space Tuesday to land one of the top defensemen on the market in Anton Stralman while adding some needed size up front with center Brian Boyle.

Tampa Bay also signed veteran goaltender Evgeni Nabokov to a one-year deal to serve as the backup to Ben Bishop after Anders Lindback, who was not issued a qualifying offer, signed with Dallas.

“We were able to address some needs,’’ Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman said. “We are very pleased to find Evgeni Nabokov, a veteran who has played well the past few years. We get Anton Stralman, who is able to play a lot of minutes, a strong and reliable defender with a good first pass and a real good skater. And he’s a right handed shot, and that was very important to us. We had a hole at center, so we bring in Brian Boyle, who is a big man, a good penalty killer and defender.’’

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