Norfolk Admirals GM Mike Butters was busy with the pen again today continuing to add roster depth by signing former Lightning overage defensive prospect Justin Fletcher [5] to a standard AHL contract. Butters had signed center Pete Zingoni and goaltender Mike McKenna [6] to standard AHL contracts on Monday. Fletcher, originally undrafted out of St. Cloud State in Minnesota, signed an ATO with the Springfield Falcons and eventually earned a one year NHL contract from then Lightning GM Jay Feaster in May 2007. Fletcher spent the bulk of the 2007-2008 season with the Admirals as a Lightning prospect before being loaned to Rockford in exchange for enforcer David Koci [7].
It had been reported in the local Tampa papers that Fletcher was a restricted free agent and had been offered a qualifying offer by Jay Feaster in June, but that information is now clearly incorrect. Fletcher, a smallish puck moving defenseman in the mold of Atlanta's Tobias Enstrom, is expected to compete with Lightning blueline prospects Kevin Quick [8], Andy Rogers [9], and Scott Jackson [10] along with fellow Admirals backliner Daryl Boyle for two or three available defensive rosters spots in Norfolk.