Philippe Myers is starting 2024 off as a NHL player. On Monday, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that they had recalled the 6’6″ defenseman from the AHL. In a corresponding move, defenseman Sean Day was re-assigned to the Syracuse Crunch. With Mikhail Sergachev already ailing, the Bolts saw Haydn Fleury and Erik Cernak both leave Sunday night’s game early with apparent injuries.
This is the third time this season that Myers has been recalled and he’s appeared in one game for the Lightning, a loss to St. Louis on November 14th where he logged 15:32 of ice time. He’s been a regular on the top pairing while in Syracuse and has racked up 8 points (2 goals, 6 assists) in 27 games with the Crunch.
Day was recalled on December 23rd right after Sergachev blocked a shot against the Blues with the back of his leg. He did not appear in a game during his stint with the Lightning as Fleury cycled into the line-up in Sergachev’s absence. Tampa Bay was hoping Sergachev would be back in action during the weekend, but he was scratched for both games.
Cernak left the game against the Canadiens in the second period after Josh Anderson leveled him with a big hit behind the Lightning net. With his history of concussions it was troubling to see the big man down on the ice for several minutes following the hit.
As for Fleury, he blocked a shot from Kaiden Guhle midway through the second period with his right hand. While he stayed on the ice to finish the shift, he didn’t return once the play went down to the other end. After the game, Coach Cooper expressed concern for the health of Fleury, indicating that his absence from the line-up might be longer than Cernak’s. That unfortunate outcome seemed to be concerned later on Monday when the Lightning placed Fleury on long-term injured reserve:
The minimum stay for a player on LTIR is 10 games or 24 calendar days, which indicates he will be out for at least a month. If it is a hand injury, he’ll be the third Lightning player this year to miss time due to using their digits to block a shot. Tyler Motte injured his hand on opening night while Conor Sheary missed a few games with a similar injury in early November.
If Cernak’s absence from the game was merely precautionary and Sergachev is good to go, they will have their full compliment ready to go tomorrow in Winnipeg. If not, Myers gives them a little more experience than Day would have. Tomorrow’s morning skate should provide a pretty good idea of what the line-up will look like come game time.
