The Tampa Bay Lightning have not yet confirmed some of the contracts that we know they have signed, and instead in a press release announced several new (and some familiar) players returning on one-year, two-way contracts as depth pieces for the team and key pieces for the Syracuse Crunch. Here is the list:
Related
Lightning sign five players to one-year, two-way contracts
Forwards
- Gabriel Dumont (30, C)
- Charles Hudon (27, LW)/
The Lightning have brought in two French-Canadian forwards. Dumont is an old friend of the Syracuse Crunch and is presumably back for another AHL season. Hudon was once a touted prospect by the ever-optimistic Montreal Canadiens fanbase, but is now an AHLer as well. Benoit Groulx’s Crunch have always had their fair share of Quebecers.
Defenders
- Andrej Sustr (30, RD)
- Darren Raddysh (25, RD)/
Sustr is back after spending two seasons with Kunlun Red Star of the KHL and representing the Czech Republic in international hockey. Sustr played parts of six seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and even had 20 games with the Crunch, before signing with Anaheim and then moving on to the KHL.
Darren is Taylor Raddysh’s older brother and the two played together on the Erie Otters of the OHL the year they won the Memorial Cup with Connor McDavid. When Taylor went to the Syracuse Crunch, Darren signed an AHL contract with Chicago and spent time with the Rockford IceHogs. After two years, he got an NHL contract with the New York Rangers and spent three seasons in the Hartford Wolfpack. Now he’s back on an NHL contract with the Crunch.
The Goalie
- Maxime Lagace (28, G)/
The Lightning also signed a mostly AHL goalie in Lagace to presumably partner with Spencer Martin on the Crunch. Lagace has moved around a lot, starting in the Stars organization, then moving to Vegas/Chicago, then Providence, and then the Penguins organization last year. The Crunch played him a couple times. Lagace had a .907 in nine games last season in the AHL. He has 18 games of NHL experience across three stints.
