Norfolk Admirals

The Helena Independent Record is reporting Mike Butters, part-owner of the Helena Bighorns Junior A Tier III hockey team, will be introduced as the AHL Norfolk Admirals' new general manager.

The Bighorns are also owned by Oren Koules, who runs OK Hockey - owners of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The newspaper describes Butters as "energetic and often boisterous," which would seem to fall in line with the rest of the new Lightning organizational ownership, which includes real estate magnate and former NHLer Len Barrie.

Butters, a 42 year-old Manitoba native, is also a former hockey player, last playing in the AHL in 1992.

Damian Cristodero of the St. Pete Times reports in his blog that former Lightning Darren Rumble will be named AHL Norfolk's next head coach on Tuesday.

Rumble was an assistant under Steve Stirling last year for Norfolk, but did not have his contract renewed at the end of the season. Stirling was reassigned to an NCAA scouting position by the Lightning following the season but later left the organization to coach in Germany.

Rumble played 24 games for the Bolts from 2002-2004, registering 8 penalty minutes in limited duty as a defenseman. He was a member of Tampa Bay's 2004 Cup team.

For more from Rumble on the opportunity, see Cristodero's Blog.

(Pictured: Rumble in Barrie, Ontario on his day with the Cup. A fun note: Rumble's daughter, Alexa, ate Fruit Loops out of the trophy.

Update: TSN is now confirming that Tampa Bay has signed Brandon Bochenski to a two-year deal. Like Konopka's deal, the first year of the deal is a two-way contract with a one-way deal for the final year..

This morning, NHLPA.com was indicating that enigmatic right winger Brandon Bochenski had signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning that would pay $500k at the NHL level.

“Brandon is a proven player at the AHL level with more than 100 games of experience in the NHL,” vice president of hockey operations Brian Lawton said. “Adding him for the next two years continues to address our need to build organizational depth.”

The former UND standout was a teammate with Lightning defensive prospect Matt Smaby in 2003-2004 during Smaby's freshman season with the Fighting Sioux. Bochenski, a prolific college and AHL scorer that has had trouble translating his dynamic offense at the NHL level, would be a huge boost to a Norfolk Admirals team that suffered through an anemic offense last season. Bochenski last played in the AHL for the Admirals during the 2006-2007 season, putting up an astronomical 33 goals and 33 assists in just 35 games. Bochenski has scored 89 goals and 93 assists in 143 career AHL games for Binghamton and Norfolk.

Lindsay Kramer of the the Syracuse Post-Standard is reporting that the Tampa Bay Lightning have inked Syracuse Crunch center and captain Zenon Konopka to a two-year deal. Konopka has spent the last season-and-a-half in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization after being traded by the Anaheim Ducks in January 2007.

Kramer reports that Konopka turned down a lucrative two-year, two-way deal from the Jackets that would have paid him $265k in each of the next two years to play for Syracuse. The Lightning's two-year deal involves a two-way contract for the first year with $100k minor league salary, but a coveted one-way contract for the 2nd year at or just above the league minimum NHL salary of $450k. Konopka finalized his decision after Tampa head coach Barry Melrose convinced him that he would have a better chance of making an NHL squad with the Lightning than with the Blue Jackets.

The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that the Lightning have inked minor league veteran center Wyatt Smith to a one year, two-way contract. Smith, a 9th round pick by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 1997 draft, has garnered a bit of a journeyman's reputation having spent the past 9 seasons playing with 5 different organizations after spending 4 years playing for the University of Minnesota.

Smith, 5.11 and 205, has played 128 NHL games the past three seasons with Colorado, Minnesota, and the New York Islanders in mostly a 4th line center role. Smith projects to anchor the top line in Norfolk, while providing depth down the middle for the Lighting.