A few weeks ago, it was reported that two Syracuse Crunch players had been selected as AHL All-Stars for the event at the end of this month. The media was notified today that the league has been informed that one of those players will not be participating, although it’s probably safe to say that the player isn’t too upset about it:
Lightning has told AHL that Crunch defenseman Nesterov, on recall to TB, will not be available for all-star game
— Syracuse Hockey (@syrhockey) January 19, 2015
Nesterov has been on recall with the Lightning since December 31st and has earned quite a bit of praise along the way. He was selected as an AHL All-Star while on recall, and it was noted that he might not be able to participate if he hadn’t been returned to Syracuse in time for the game. With Lightning defenseman Radko Gudas out for the next few months and Matt Carle seeing a specialist today, it’s very safe to say that Nesterov probably won’t be returning to the Crunch any time soon.
This leaves Syracuse forward Vladislav Namestnikov as the only Crunch representative at the game, for now, anyway. The AHL will probably select another player to replace Nesterov, but the player doesn’t necessarily have to come from the Crunch. Syracuse is currently 2nd in the AHL’s Northeast Division and 4th in the AHL’s Eastern Conference.
