Matt Carle has found a home in Tampa Bay ... again.  The former Flyers defenseman is back at the Bay for his second career stint, and after the Lightning's 5-1 blowout of his old team Sunday night, Carle looked fit and acted happy with his place with the his new/old team, the Lightning.
That's as it should be, of course ... as Carle got the Lightning to agree to bring him in with a six-year deal paying him better than $5 million per.
What Flyers fans want to know, of course, is whether Carle chose Tampa over re-signing with the Flyers because GM Paul Holmgren and Company perhaps dragged their feet with trying to get him to stay while they pursued Nashville free agent Ryan Suter.
"No," Carle said after a pause. "I played a lot. I had a good relationship with all the guys and the coaching staff. I think in the end things just didn’t work out. There’s nobody to blame for that."
Carle called hockey "a business at times," and said he was just treating it that way when he signed with the Lightning.
He also called the free agent process "weird."
But you get the feeling Carle followed his preferred business plan all along. Clearly, he likes it in Tampa, and thought the Lightning had turned the roster to the point of once again being a contender.
In the early going, they certainly look like one.