The Tampa Bay Lightning had the day off of the ice, but for the second day in a row, general manager Julien BriseBois was busy as he made a couple of roster moves. First, defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous was recalled from the Syracuse Crunch. In a corresponding move, Conor Geekie was loaned to the AHL affiliate.
D’Astous, 27, signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Bolts this summer to give them some defensive depth in the organization. The left-shot defenseman was never drafted out of junior hockey, where he played for his hometown Rimouski Oceanic. After bouncing around the AHL and ECHL with Grand Rapids, Toledo, Colorado, and Utah, D’Astous spent the last three years in Europe. He put up strong numbers with KooKoo as he compiled 69 points (24 goals, 45 assists) in 110 games. Then he moved over to the SHL in 2024-25 where he put up 39 points (12 goals, 27 assists) in 48 games for Brynas IF.
In four games with the Crunch this season, he has a goal and two assists. Should he stick around and get into the line-up, he would be making his NHL debut. It’s been quite a journey for the blueliner who has made a career of lugging the puck up the ice. Offense is the key to his game, but he has become a solid two-way player over his career.
Max Crozier’s injury has seemingly opened up a roster spot for now, but it is worth noting that he is a left-shot and Crozier was a right-shot. There is a chance that the Lightning recalled him in order to get a longer look at him in practice, and will re-assign him prior to resuming action on Thursday. If not, perhaps Mr. BriseBois and Coach Cooper are looking to add a little more offense from the blueline that Emil Lilleberg, who has had his ups-and-downs this season, brings.
With Crozier on injured reserve (per PuckPedia) they didn’t necessarily need a player down as they would have been under the 23 player limit on the active roster, but the loan could be quick. The Crunch do play on Wednesday, so that would clear the one-game minimum that players assigned to the AHL have to fulfill now. As Geekie is still on his entry-level contract, he is waivers-exempt.
Geekie, who has seen most of his playing time on the fourth line, has one assist in six games. The 21-year-old is second on the team in regards to hit-rate as he is averaging 14.96 hits-per-60 this season. There was some hope that he could bring some offense to the bottom-six this season, but so far that hasn’t been the case.
If he does stay down in Syracuse, it would indicate that Zemgus Girgensons is close to returning. Still, it would be an interesting move to keep Curtis Douglas or Jack Finley on the roster over Geekie, who is the most versatile player of the three. However, he is just 21 and the Lightning can be overprotected of their prospects.
With a couple of more days before they suit up against Chicago on Thursday there is a good chance that they aren’t done fiddling around with the roster.
