Welcome back to Syracuse Speaks! This podcast, hosted by Alex Ackerman, aims to bring more voices to the world of minor league hockey.
In this episode, host Alex Ackerman discusses the organization’s first foray into free agency this summer. She briefly covers what the Lightning did for the Lightning, including the signing of Luke Schenn and Curtis McElhinney, and then she discusses what Tampa did for Syracuse. The Lightning signed four free agents and hired a coach for the Crunch: goalies Scott Wedgewood and Spencer Martin, forward Chris Mueller, defenseman Luke Witkowski, and coach Joe Palmer. She considers all five of them and what their contracts mean for the team.
She also says goodbye to forwards Andy Andreoff and captain Gabriel Dumont, explains why a veteran presence is so important to AHL teams, and reaffirms her choices for the now-vacant captaincy in Syracuse.
As always, please leave any questions, comments, or feedback for us here or on Twitter!
Articles referenced in this episode:
- 2019 AHL Top 100 Free Agents and Beyond – The Big Board
- Around the A – On the AHL Market
- AHL Free Agency – The Class of 2019
- Lightning sign goalie Scott Wedgewood (ignore all that nonsense about the other potential goalies for the system)
- Defenseman Luke Schenn signs with Tampa Bay Lightning/
