It was a busy Friday off of the ice for the Tampa Bay Lightning as they shuffled their roster around prior to their back-to-back games on the weekend. Leading things off was the news that Brandon Halverson had cleared waivers. That was expected, but the Lightning appear to be keeping him around with Jonas Johansson still not available due to injury. Halverson will likely remain with the team through the weekend, and then be loaned to Syracuse during the upcoming break.
Conor Sheary was sent to Syracuse in time for him to suit up for the Crunch’s game against Utica, where he scored a power-play goal. The move was expected as well since it allowed the Lightning to bury a large portion of his $2 million cap hit. However, a chunk of that savings was taken up when they recalled Dylan Duke, a move necessitated by the lingering injury to Anthony Cirelli. Much Halverson, expect Duke to be loaned back to Syracuse following the game on Sunday.
Lightning News
Lightning recall Dylan Duke [Raw Charge]
It would be pretty cool if the Michigan Wolverine makes his NHL debut in the Motor City.
Are two wins too much too much to ask for the Lightning [Tampa Bay Times]
Wildly annoying headline aside (click on link to see the actual headline), John Romano helicopters in to share some of same concerns that we’ve all had about this team – namely the depth of the roster. Honestly, a split of this weekend series would be okay heading into the break.
McDonagh’s team mentality driving his continuous climb up the NHL record books [NHL.com]
Blocking shots is a heck of a way to make a living, but that’s been a huge part of Ryan McDonagh’s game throughout his career. Sometime, in the not too distant future, McDonagh is going to eclipse the 2,000 blocked shots mark (he’s at 1,961).
Utica 4, Syracuse 2 [Syracuse Crunch]
Goals from Jack Finley and Conor Sheary were undone by a late second period goal from Utica that tied the game. Then Xavier Parent beat Matt Tomkins to give the Comets a third-period lead they would not relinquish. Conor Geekie made his Syracuse debut playing on a top line with Gabriel Fortier, finishing with one shot on net and several hits throughout the game.
Hockey News
Dylan Larkin playing the best hockey of his career [Prashanth Iyer – Substack]
A nice breakdown of Larkin, who is a large factor in the Red Wings recent run of solid play. Also, check out which line is tearing it up in terms of GF% and xGF%. Please get healthy soon Tony Two Goals.
ESPN Power Rankings – Jets back on top [ESPN]
The Lightning move up one spot to 13, which seems about right. They’re not quite a top 10 team – yet.
NHL Trade Board 6.0 [The Athletic]
With the 4 Nations Face-Off break acting like a pre-deadline deadline, some new names have been added to the Big Board. Brad Marchand to the Lightning would be worth it just for the pure chaos it would generate on both sides of the aisle.
TRAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDEEEE [Canucks Army]
Good ol’ future considerations is on the move again as the Nashville Predators acquired defenseman Mark Friedman from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a vague promise of something sometime.
