After two weeks of speculation originally dismissed by the new owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning the club has traded defenseman Dan Boyle.

Only four days after his new contract with a no-trade clause came into effect, Boyle agreed to waive the clause to be dealt to the San Jose Sharks.

Going to the Sharks with Boyle is veteran defenseman Brad Lukowich in exchange for defenseman Matt Carle, blueline prospect Ty Wishart, a first round pick in 2009 and a fourth round pick in 2010.

After signing an aging Rob Blake from the LA Kings the Sharks have now given themselves what they hope to be the final missing piece of the puzzle in Boyle to put them over the top as a Stanley Cup contender.

Boyle turns 32 in July and despite missing considerable playing time last season to a freak dressing room injury (a skate blade severed tendons in his wrist) he's still in his prime and was capable of posting up 25 points in 37 games last season.

His -29 plus/minus rating ranked among the worst in the NHL but that is partially due to a Lightning team that was in disarray late in the season and in freefall in the standings.

On a better team like the Sharks Boyle should be a strong factor in their offensive game, particularly on the power-play, and with his experience as part of the Lightning's 2004 Stanley Cup playoff run makes an upgrade over the departed Brian Campbell.

It's difficult to understand the mindset of the Lightning's new ownership. They were considered the driving force in the Bolts re-signing Boyle last season to a five-year, $6.67 million per season contract before they'd officially taken over ownership of the team.

Then came the Lightning's recent acquisitions of forwards, such as Ryan Malone ($4.5 million per season), Vaclav Prospal ($3.5 million per season), Radim Vrbata ($3 million per season) and Gary Roberts ($1.25 million), and suddenly the Lighting were pushing perilously close to the salary cap, and that meant something had to give.

Moving Boyle frees up considerable cap space and the additions of Carle and Wishart will replace the gaps on the blueline left by the departures of Boyle and Lukowich, although they won't replace the experience of the two and Carle will face the pressure of being one of the Lightning's top two defensemen.

Freeing up cap space and getting younger is one thing, but then why did they even both re-signing Boyle in the first place if the plan was to load on offense?

Carle and Wishart also won't address the fact that the Lighting blueline was thin before they dealt away Boyle and Lukowich.

Carle and Ranger will probably be the top two pairing, leaving Filip Kuba, Shane O'Brien, Alexandre Picard, Doug Janik and Wishart as the remainder of the defense corps.

The Lightning now look like a team with strong forward depth, decent goaltending in promising Mike Smith and recent acquisition Olaf Kolzig, and a defense corps that could be the club's Achilles heel.

It's been an exciting off-season thus far for the Lightning with all their recent moves, as well as the re-signing of franchise player Vincent Lecavalier and the selection of future star Steve Stamkos in the entry draft.

It'll be interesting to see how well this team, with a suspect defense and a new head coach who hasn't been behind an NHL bench in 13 years, looks on the ice next season.