The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed goaltender Dustin Tokarski to a standard three-year entry level contract, Executive Vice President & General Manager Brian Lawton announced.

"Dustin is a young goaltender who has had success at every level he has played by helping his teams win championships," Lawton said. "He has been an underdog most of the time but has never let that distract him from succeeding. We are excited to continue to add people of character to our organization."

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I'm sure the Lightning brass took one look at other recent Canadian world junior goaltenders in the NHL, namely Carey Price and Steve Mason, and knew they wanted Tokarski's name on a contract soon.

Tokarski's one of a number of great young netminders coming out of Western Canada, and while he has only played one game so far at the world juniors, could get the call for a pivotal game tomorrow night against the U.S. He has an incredible .955 save percentage with Spokane of the WHL so far this season and led the Chiefs to the Memorial Cup last year. Tokarski was the MVP of that tournament.

He's going to be a good one for Tampa Bay, which could have a pretty solid tandem down the line with Mike Smith proving a decent No. 1 netminder so far this season.