Today is NHL cut down day and the Lightning trimmed their roster to 23. Cut were, J.P. Cote (Syracuse), Brett Connolly (Syracuse), J.T. Brown (Syracuse), Nikita Kucherov (Syracuse), Dmitry Korobov (Syracuse), Kristers Gudlevskis (Florida), Jonathan Drouin (Halifax), Dana Tyrell (waivers), Matt Taormina (waivers), and Mike Angelidis (waivers).
Tampa Bay’s forwards are Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, Ryan Malone, Valtteri Filppula, Teddy Purcell, Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson, Richard Panik, Ondrej Palat, Nate Thompson, B.J. Crombeen, Tom Pyatt and Pierre-Cedric Labrie.
The Bolts blue line looks like this: Victor Hedman, Sami Salo, Matt Carle, Radko Gudas, Eric Brewer, Mark Barberio, Keith Aulie and Andrej Sustr.
The goalies are Ben Bishop and Anders Lindback.
Steve Yzerman on sending Jonathan Drouin back to his junior team,
“We think he’s an incredible talent, a very intelligent hockey player, great hockey sense, great vision. We just feel he’s better served by playing another year of junior hockey. I don’t want him being in and out of the lineup. I don’t want him playing limited minutes. Our assessment was he’s better off playing another year of junior hockey, hopefully playing for Canada at the world junior championships and developing there.”
Steve Yzerman on the Connolly decision,
“I think he had a gret camp and he will play for us. He can be back at any moment whenever we need him. He’s going to start there (AHL Syracuse) and play a lot of minutes. Much like Palat, Panik and Johnson last year were kind of the leaders and the top line of the American Hockey League, Brett’s in that role. He’s got to go down there and be our top guy, be a leader and carry the team if need be. That’s another step forward for him. There’s no plan to leave him there for any period of time, whether it be one game or the entire season. If our situation changes, whether through injury or poor performance, then he’s a phone call away. He’s going to get his chance and he’s going to be a very good player for us.”
The Lightning open the season on Thursday night in Boston. (Photos/Susan Ferlita)
See the full roster here.
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