One of the mainstays on the blueline for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s AHL affiliate the past two years has been Radko Gudas. Lightning fans themselves saw Gudas for an extended time during the 2013 NHL season… But before that, he was a vital, vital cog on the Syracuse Crunch roster and the Norfolk Admirals roster the season before.
The rough and tumble defenseman throws his hits and takes them too… And it appears one hit or another has knocked out Radko for at least the first two games of the 2013 Calder Cup Finals. From Lindsay Kramer at the Syracuse Post-Standard:
No Gudas tonight or prob. Sunday. Zettler said he will likely go with 12 forward. Guess is that Paquette is back in
— Syracuse Hockey (@syrhockey) June 8, 2013
That reference to “Paquette” is recently signed prospect and 2012 draft class member Cedric Paquette, who made his pro debut during the AHL Eastern Conference finals. Paquette is a hungry forward, though, and not a defenseman.
I would think that, on defense, you will see the same lineup as has played for most of the playoffs — just minus Gudas. That means college free agent Andrej Sustr will be on one of the defensive pairings and not serving as the swing-man 7th defenseman, which Coach Zettler usually pencils him in as.
The Crunch already lost Brian Lee for the playoffs to injury in an earlier round. Brendan Mikkelson replaced Lee in the lineup.
