Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman announced the Bolts and the Florida Panthers completed a minor league swap today.
The Lightning get defensemen Evan Oberg and Mike Kostka, while Florida picks up forward James Wright and defenseman Mike Vernace.
Oberg has appeared in four NHL contests, with two each in 2009-10 and 2010-11 while with the Vancouver Canucks. The 6-foot 165 pound defensemen has scored 10 goals and 29 assists in 113 AHL games, collecting 92 penalty minutes.
Kostka is a much larger defenseman at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds. He has appeared in 237 AHL games, scoring 22 goals and assisting on 90 others while registering 116 penalty minutes.
Wright, a 6-foot-4 200 pound center, appeared in 49 games with the Lightning over the last two seasons, scoring two goals and three assists along with a minus-11 rating and 18 penalty minutes. In 80 AHL games with the Norfolk Admirals last season, he collected 16 goals and 31 assists along with 64 penalty minutes.
Vernace, a 6-foot 216 pound defenseman, has appeared in 22 career NHL games with the Bolts and the Colorado Avalanche, picking up one assist and 10 penalty minutes with a minus-seven rating. In 304 career AHL contests he has scored 16 goals and 83 assists, picking up 258 penalty minutes.