Steve Yzerman's first hire as general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning is now official:
New Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman hired former teammate Pat Verbeek Tuesday as a member of his professional scouting staff. Verbeek, like Yzerman, comes from the Detroit Red Wings organization, where he spent the previous four seasons as a professional scout.
"Pat brings a wealth of hockey knowledge and experience as a player and a scout to our staff," Yzerman said. "His ability to identify and evaluate talent will be a great resource as we move forward and we are pleased he elected to continue his career with the Lightning."
Although it has been reported that Ryan Martin is "talking" with Yzerman about the assistant GM job in Tampa, there don't appear to be any new developments on that story just yet. Martin is expected to take the job since he is no longer taking part in the Wings' meetings.