Richardson Rounds Roster, Rovers Ready to Roll

Iqaluit, NU (CP)

The Rovers completed their free agent shopping last night, inking reserve defenseman Luke Richardson to a 1 yr contract worth $540,000. Richardson will fill the role of #7 Dman, one considered important by the club. "We have Steve [Montador], but we wanted a vet that can play minutes and doesn't have lingering injury concerns", Stringer said of the signing. "Luke's been around the league forever and knows how to play the role we have for him. He'll be a great guy in the room as well".

Barring any callups from the minors, the signing also completes the roster for RHL16 and brings the Rovers to the 23-man minimum limit. With a payroll of just under $28M, the Rovers will be spending far less than they have in the past three seasons, but will have the flexibility to add to the team should their performance warrant it around the trade deadline. A tentative opening night lineup may look like this.

Stillman - Jokinen - Murray
Frolov - Demitra - Horton
Laaksonen - Draper - Bergeron
Lundmark - Legwand - Hall

Johnsson - Carney
Regehr - Brewer
Liles - D.Markov

Gerber/Mason

Scratches: Richardson, Montador, Thibault