Lightning call up Gabriel Dumont and send Frederik Claesson to Syracuse

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced that they have made two roster moves this morning. The Lightning have assigned defenseman Frederik Claesson to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL and have recalled forward Gabriel Dumont from Syracuse.

Cal Foote returned to Tampa over the weekend after finishing a five-game conditioning stint with the Crunch. With Foote’s return to the roster, it was likely that Claesson would head back down to Syracuse and would still give the Lightning seven defensemen on the NHL roster. Claesson did not appear in any NHL games during his call-up as he served as the seventh defenseman while Foote was away.

Dumont’s recall signals a little bit more concern. Steven Stamkos did not take part in practice yesterday. When asked about it in his post-practice press conference, head coach Jon Cooper said he “hoped” that Stamkos would be able to play today. It sounds like Stamkos is dealing with a minor injury, and hopefully it’s not something that will turn into a more serious concern. Stamkos currently leads the Lightning in scoring with 12 points, which is also tied for 6th in the NHL. He has five goals, one behind team leader Alex Killorn’s six goals.

Boris Katchouk took Stamkos’ spot on the second line during practice, but was “banged up” during practice. Dumont’s recall could be as simple as being a replacement for Katchouk, who has served as the 13th forward since the return of Alex Barre-Boulet from the Seattle Kraken by way of the waiver wire.

Dumont’s return could be just precautionary after a sighting of Steven Stamkos at the morning skate which is a good sign that he’ll be able to play tonight.

Dumont has played in 90 career NHL games and has spent time playing center and wing during his professional career. His most memorable stint in the NHL was 2016-17 when the Lightning had a lot of injury issues down the stretch to their forward corps and Dumont played in 39 games for the team. He scored two goals and four points in those 39 games. He had a stretch where he played with Cedric Paquette and Michael Bournival, an all-Quebec Line that played pretty well. He also played a lot with J.T. Brown and Greg McKegg during that time with mixed results.

Over 90 games played with the Montreal Canadiens, Lightning, Ottawa Senators, and Minnesota Wild, Dumont has posted four goals and nine points along with three games and no points in the playoffs. Dumont has not appeared in the NHL since early in the 2019-20 season when he had a three game stint with the Minnesota Wild. He has spent most of the past three seasons playing in the AHL and returned to the Syracuse Crunch this season after two seasons with Minnesota’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.