Downie Re-Signs With Bolts

The top free agents are starting to fall again on both sides of the restricted/unrestricted fence now, yesterday saw Hornqvist sign with the Preds and Torres sign with the Canucks, this morning we have Steve Downie signing a new deal with the Lightning. Downie, a restricted free agent, signed a new 2-year deal, reportedly worth $3.7 million, a $1.85 million salary cap hit in the end.

In 2010, Downie really started to break out with the Lightning, getting matched up on a line with Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis, which really helped push his stock up in the end.  He finished the season with 22 goals and 24 assists (for 46 points) in 79 games with the Lightning, also adding 208 penalty minutes, making him a great fantasy threat in the 2011 season.  I think I will be giving Downie a bit of a boost, especially since reuniting the chemistry of that line seems like a no-brainer.

The Hockey News Pool Guide has Downie projected for 51 points in 2011 and in some respects, that sounds about right, especially for the number of penalties he takes in a year.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Steven Stamkos	Pavel Kubina	Dan Ellis
Martin St. Louis	Victor Hedman	Mike Smith
Vincent Lecavalier	Brett Clark
Ryan Malone	Mike Lundin
Steve Downie	Mattias Ohlund
Simon Gagne
Domenic Moore
Sean Bergenheim
Teddy Purcell
Nate Thompson
Paul Szczechura

I think I had a team update on about a week ago, but adding Downie to the line-up is a good thing that should be explored.  The Lightning are doing well to fit everyone under their budget for the coming season and adding a sub $2 million per year deal only makes the cap hit look better.  Currently, the Lightning squad that is listed above comes in at a cap hit of $48.9 million, well below the cap ceiling for the year.  The highest ranking restricted free agent they have left on their books is defenseman Paul Ranger and if he does eventually sign, he'll be a bargain basement guy as well.  I wouldn't be surprised to see the Lightning go after some of the veteran talent that is still on the unrestricted free agent market, especially with prices dropping significantly.