Through the first three games of the season, Tampa Bay’s defense has allowed a staggering 146 shots on goal, and a big part of that problem is the inability to this point of the defense as a whole to get the puck out of the zone and start the transition game moving forward up the ice. For the most part, the Lightning defensemen are not handling the puck well inside their own zone and when pressured, they fire the puck up the boards and considering the number of puck battles the team has lost in the three games, that results in a lot of turnovers.

Help, however, may be on the way. While the team is expected to sign 33-year-old defenseman Marek Malik this week, the Lightning will also find out on Tuesday whether Paul Ranger is ready to return to the ice or not. Ranger has been out while he still recovers from off-season shoulder surgery. He was cleared to resume physical contact last week and was scheduled to fly to Birmingham, Alabama, on Monday to be examined by Dr. James Andrews, who performed surgery to repair a torn labrum in Ranger’s right shoulder.

Should Ranger be cleared to play, it should bring a big boost to the blue line as he would immediately jump into what amounts to a top two role on defense. Assuming he plays about 25 minutes a game or so, that means less ice time for Andrej Meszaros and Matt Carle, who have been playing roughly between 27-30 minutes a night in the first three games. That would also take some of the pressure off the likes of Janne Niskala at even strength and, if Jamie Heward remains with the team, would prevent him from having to log 20 minutes a game, which he did in two of the first three games.

Now, here comes the trick. With Jason Ward having been activated from injured reserve and Ryan Craig being placed on injured reserve, that leaves one open roster spot. Assuming Malik does sign with the team this week as expected and Ranger being put on the active roster, somebody has to go, and that would likely be on the blue line. So who goes?

Obviously, Matt Carle and Andrej Meszaros are going nowhere while Ranger, Lukas Krajicek and Malik likely round out the top five. The next three on the depth chart are Niskala, Heward and Mike Lundin who are left fighting for a not only ice time, but a roster spot.

Niskala has a European-escape clause, which means if the Lightning feel he’s just not working out, he can be re-assigned to Europe without any compensation from the team. Lundin has been solid, if not spectacular, in his two games and his 22 minutes Saturday night speaks volumes of what the coaching staff thought of him in the game, plus he would have to clear waivers should the team decided he’s the odd man out and I don’t think he would clear waivers. Heward, meanwhile, is on a two-way contract and if he was sent down would almost assuredly clear waivers and remain the team’s property. But Heward has played well and is still the most experienced defenseman on the blue line right now.

So who goes? My guess is its Heward, despite how well he’s played because he’d be the easiest guy to send down to the minors where he could act as a pretty good mentor for some of the team’s young defensemen in Norfolk.

In speaking to Barry Melrose this morning, he discussed how smart of a player Lundin is, which is telling sign that either they think highly of him or they want to have fellow general managers read the comments and decide they must trade for the guy.

Melrose also talked about trying to get Steven Stamkos some more ice time. Melrose mentioned that all the penalties in Saturday’s game cut way into Stamkos’ ice time and ideally Melrose would like to get Stamkos between 12-15 minutes a game and at some point will integrate him into the power play rotation.