Lightning claim Thompson, sit Hedman; Smith improving

Posted Jan 21, 2010 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Jan 21, 2010 at 01:08 PM

TAMPA - The Lightning have claimed forward Nate Thompson off waivers from the New York Islanders on Thursday. Thompson is expected to arrive in Tampa later today, although it’s not a certainty he will play tonight against Toronto..

Thompson, 25, is a former sixth round pick of the Boston Bruins in 2003 out of Seattle in the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot, 207-pound native of Anchorage, Alaska, has played in 86 career NHL games since 2006-07, mainly with the Islanders.

Considered a gritty, third or fourth line role player, Thompson has three goals, 10 points and 88 penalty minutes. In 39 games with New York this season, Thompson has one goal, five assists and 39 penalty minutes.

With Thompson joining the roster, the team will make a corresponding move later in the day to get under the 23-man roster limit.

HEDMAN OUT

Rookie D Victor Hedman will be a healthy scratch tonight against Toronto after the 19-year-old has endured a rough stretch of games the past week. Since the start of January, Hedman has one goal, one assist and is a minus-6.

“It won’t be a long thing, he just needs to catch his breath a little bit,” Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said. “He’s a 19-year-old playing 22 minutes a night for us, and when you don’t dress other guys it’s for other reasons. With him, it’s not because he doesn’t work or anything like that, he works. He just needs to catch his breath, the same thing we did with (Steven) Stamkos last year.”

In addition to Hedman, forward Brandon Bochenski will sit out tonight as a healthy scratch.

Defenseman Kurtis Foster is expected dress as a forward tonight in a fourth-line role to keep his spot on the power play. Foster also played at forward sporadically earlier in the season.

That also puts defensemen David Hale and Matt Walker back in the lineup tonight.

SMITH IMPROVING

Injured goaltender Mike Smith participated in Thursday’s morning skate and said he continues to improve as he works some of the lingering stiffness in his neck resulting from a collision with Washington’s Brooks Laich on Jan. 12.

“There is no time line, everything is just a feel and obviously I’m back on the ice so I’ve progressed that far,” Smith said. “It takes a few days to get back into game shape. I felt pretty good on the ice today, so we’ll keep moving forward.”

In addition to some stiffness in his neck, Smith said he continues to have some minor issues with his vision, which he said are directly related to his sore neck and not from any kind of concussion issues like he had last season.

“I know it’s not in my head, so it’s good to get that out of my head,” he said.