After getting booted in the first round of the playoffs last spring, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois didn’t wait until free agency started to begin fiddling with his roster. While the second round was still going on, the Lightning announced a free agent signing that was met with a collective shrug by just about everyone.
We even passed it off as “not a game-changing pick-up, but it does add to the organization’s depth”. Credit to the Lightning’s scouting staff, and Charle-Edouard D’Astous for exceeding the expectations and earning another contract before the one he is on was even half-way finished. On Friday, the Lightning announced that they had extended the 27-year-old with a one-year, one-way extension with an $875,000 AAV. The deal will keep the left-shot defenseman under contract through the 2026-27 season.
With the signing the Lightning now have seven defensemen signed through next season with Darren Raddysh (unrestricted free agent), Max Groshev (restricted free agent), and Declan Carlile (Group VI UFA) as the only unsigned blueliners currently on the NHL roster. Of those three, Raddysh will command the biggest raise based on his level of play this season.
As for D’Astous, his time with the Crunch, where he was expected to spend most of the season, lasted all of four games where he did put up a goal and two assists. When the injuries started piling up in Tampa, D’Astous was recalled based on his strong training camp and fast start to the season. Despite not having a lick of NHL experience, his time in Europe playing in the Liiga and SHL allowed him to jump right into the league and hold his own.
He made his debut on October 25th against Anaheim and logged 14:39. A few days later he picked up his first NHL goal against Nashville and kept rolling from there. When the injuries really picked up and the Lightning were without four of their top-four defenders, D’Astous, Raddysh, and J.J. Moser really stepped up their play. D’Astous went from playing around 14 minutes a night to more than 20 minutes as part of the second pairing. His ability to enter right into the line-up and not struggle is a big reason why the Lightning are in a playoff spot right now despite not having Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak, and Emil Lilleberg for long stretches of the season.
Known for his offensive skills and ability to carry the puck, he did add a more mobile element to the Lightning’s blueline. The biggest question mark to his game was his defensive play, and so far the metrics show that he’s been more than holding his own while logging second-pairing minutes.
One thing to note with Evolving Hockey’s player cards is that, at this point in the season, some of those numbers are projections (hence the 68 games played). So there is some room for regression as the season rolls on for the next forty games.
As good as he’s been, there are still some holes in his game as he continues to get used to the speed of the NHL game. Turnovers and penalties are usually the way the mistakes manifest and the more he plays, the more his tendencies can be dissected and exploited by other teams. He’ll have to keep adjusting and improving his game to earn his minutes on the ice.
However, we should also mention that, if things work out, his role in the second half of the season should be reduced when Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh return from their injuries. Depending on how they deploy Emil Lilleberg when the Norwegian is back in the line-up, D’Astous may even find himself on his weak side.
It is nice when an organization takes a chance on a player and that player rewards them by performing better than expectations. D’Astous is following a similar path that Darren Raddysh did a few years ago. It’s turned out well with Raddysh (who may be pricing himself out of the Lightning’s ability to re-sign him) D’Astous could follow in that path. The Lightning don’t need him to be an all-star on the ice, especially when they are healthy, but his ability to get the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive zone is just as important even if he’s logging time on the third pairing.
