Much like what has been done this off season with players like Mark Barberio, defenseman Andrej Sustr has been re-signed to a new 1-year, 1-way contract, per the team.
Here’s the release:
LIGHTNING RE-SIGN DEFENSEMAN ANDREJ SUSTR
TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed defenseman Andrej Sustr to a one-year, one-way contract, vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman announced today.
Sustr, 23, skated in 43 games last season with the Lightning, posting one goal and eight points to go along with 16 penalty minutes. He scored his first career NHL goal against the Dallas Stars on April 5 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The Plzen, Czech Republic native registered a career-best two assists on November 16 at Phoenix. Sustr made his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut against the Montreal Canadiens in 2014, skating in three games. He also played in 12 games with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, recording a goal and three assists.
The 6-foot-8, 225-pound has appeared in 45 career NHL games, all with the Lightning over the past two seasons, recording a goal and eight points. Sustr was signed as a free agent by the Lightning on March 21, 2013 out of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He appeared in 81 career games over three seasons at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, registering 15 goals and 51 points.
Unlike Barberio, Sustr spent last season straddling the NHL bubble. He started strong in the fall and made the Lightning right out of camp, but then was back in the AHL in Syracuse by January. The move was made to get him more ice time, but while he was with the Crunch, Sustr suffered two different injuries that kept him on the bench for different stretches of time. The first was in the middle of January, where he sat for two weeks with a concussion. Then at the end of February, he suffered a left shoulder/collarbone ailment, caused by crashing into the boards awkwardly. That injury kept him out for a month.
All in all, he played 12 games with the Crunch before getting recalled again to Tampa at the beginning of April. This new contract for 2014-2015 is clearly a “show me” deal for the defenseman. If he can stay healthy and and push his large frame through to a permanent spot, then things will probably be looking good for him to stay with the organization. Coach Jon Cooper has been known to go with 7 defensemen for stretches of games, so those contests will likely be the best chance for Sustr to show what he can do.
