Earlier today, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that four players had been assigned to their respective junior teams. Jan Golicic (Gatineau), Ethan Hay (Saginaw), Kaden Pitre (Flint), and Harrison Meneghin (Lethbridge) are all on their way north to join their CHL teams, whose preseasons are already in progress.
There were no surprises in this list, and we predicted that the quartet would be the first players cut from training camp. As of now, Ethan Gauthier remains the only junior-eligible player left in camp, and depending on his play, he could stay there until the end of the preseason.
These were the easiest cuts to make as it was very unlikely any of those four players were in a position to play their way onto the roster, and they all need at least one more season in juniors before making the jump to professional hockey. Golicic, Pitre, and Meneghin are probably at least two seasons away from signing their entry-level contracts while there is a chance that Hay signs his at some point this season.
With all of the remaining players, except for Logan Brown, under contract, the next cuts will be to loan players to Syracuse and Orlando. Expect those cuts to come over the weekend or early next week. The competition for the open spots on the roster are still wide-open and there is no sense in cutting a player just yet considering Syracuse’s camp hasn’t opened yet. Even if the players aren’t going to make the Lightning squad, getting time on the ice with NHL coaching is helpful for their development.
As for Brown, he had a solid first game in a Lightning uniform and scored the lone goal in the Lightning’s 2-1 loss to Carolina on Tuesday. The chances of him turning his PTO into a guaranteed contract are looking better on a daily basis, especially with the Lightning’s affinity for filling open roster spots with experienced players instead of rookies.
The Bolts have the cap space open contract spots to sign him so that’s not an issue. Even if he is outplayed for one of the final open spots, they may still sign him and assign him to Syracuse considering he hasn’t played since April of 2023.
