Darren Dreger reporting Lightning close to deal with Matt Carle.

[KyleFreadrich43]

Darren Dreger ‏@DarrenDreger

Working on details. Matt Carle is closing in on a deal with Tampa Bay Lightning.

6yrs/$5.5 average.

[Bolts_26]

Yes!

I know there was some talking on this board against Carle but I'm far from confident with what we have on D right now.

[BurnTHalO]

Oh dear god, it had better be like a vokoun deal.

[Sean]

Carle is NOT the dman we should overpay for. I'm so afraid of the $$ on this contract.

[Hoek]

I have faith that the contract won't be too bad. I'm sure we'll "overpay" since it's crazyseason, but whatever it is it shouldn't hamstring us for 13 years.

[Acehawk74]

Same. I actually like Carle a lot. His games when we had him last were under Melrose.. so it's hard to hold anything against him there.

He fits a need. Hopefully he's not overly overpaid here...but I trust Yzerman to make it work out.

[Bolts_26]

Obviously he's going to be overpaid. I'm sure Yzerman checked out the trading block and saw that no deals would be made that way. I think Carle gets 4.5 million but we'll see... we are dealing with SFY here.

If Carle is overpaid real bad, I hope it would at least be on a short term-ish deal.

[Acehawk74]

@TBLightning
The Lightning have signed defenseman Matt Carle to a six-year contract tonight, Steve Yzerman has announced.

‏@erlendssontrib
Right around what you would expect RT @DarrenDreger: Carles agrees to 6 year contract with Tampa Bay. $5.5 aav.


Right around what I expected. Terms a bit long, but I'm ok with it. It's simply the going rate these days for a younger d-man. I'd much rather have him than trading for a guy and giving up an asset and paying a mil less.

[BurnTHalO]

Originally Posted by Acehawk74

Same. I actually like Carle a lot. His games when we had him last were under Melrose.. so it's hard to hold anything against him there.

He fits a need. Hopefully he's not overly overpaid here...but I trust Yzerman to make it work out.

Eh, thought he was bad in his own zone, thought the same when I saw him in philly. Not sure what need that would fill if that is still the case.

And i still think we give yzerman way to much of a pass. Im not sure how well Detroit has done since he started there. Id have to really go back and look at that though and I'm in no shape for that now.

[The Great Zo]

Six years, $5.5 million average per year.