The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed veteran free agent forward Brenden Morrow to a one-year contract.
Morrow, 35 and a native of Carlyle, Saskatchewan, began his career in 1999 with the Dallas Stars. He spent last season with the St. Louis Blues where he registered 13 goals, 12 assists, 76 penalty minutes and was a plus-1 in 71 games. He also scored four power play goals and three game winners. While with the Stars, he served as captain from 2006 until he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2012-13 season.
As recently as a week ago, Lightning general manager SteveYzerman expressed concern about the lack of a veteran presence among the team’s forwards. He had also stated that the prospect of being able to add anybody to fill that role was unlikely, especially via free agency.
Also, the team signed forward Phillipe Paradis to a one-year, two-way contract. The AHL veteran appeared in 56 games for the Crunch last year, tallying six goals and nine assists. For more on Paradis, we turn to our resident Crunch expert, Allokago of Chairman How’s Glorious Army:
Paradis is still looking to recapture his shining moment from the 2013 Eastern Conference finals where he recorded a hat trick in the final game of that series vs. Wilkes/Barre-Scranton. Paradis struggled a bit with injury last season, and just didn’t exactly look like the spitfire he had been the previous season. However, many Crunch fans still enjoyed the heart with which he played, and were looking forward to having him back.
With PC Labrie moving on to another organization, Paradis has the potential to step into a bigger role with the Crunch if he can recapture more of the energy and grit he had after he was traded to the Crunch during the 2012-2013. However, there’s also speculation that Paradis might be in competition for a spot on Tampa’s 4th line. Speculation on that has gone back and forth between Paradis and the recently-signed Mike Blunden. Both have the toughness chops to make it work, and Blunden has some NHL experience.
