Five years ago, Cory Conacher decided to head to Switzerland over primarily playing in the AHL but came back after that one season. It appears that the pending unrestricted free agent is leaning towards going down that path again as Gregory Beaud and Jerome Reynard of Le Matin report that Conacher is expected to sign with Lausanne of the Swiss NLA for next season.
The 30-year-old has seen at least one NHL game with the Lightning in each of the four seasons he has played since the 2016-17 campaign. However, aside from a 36-game stretch in 2017-18, his role has primarily been as a short-term injury recall with the majority of his playing time coming in the minors.
This season, Conacher has played in four games with Tampa Bay, collecting a single assist. However, he continues to be quite productive in the minors, tallying 14 goals and 24 assists in 43 games with AHL Syracuse. It’s that ability to produce in the AHL that has helped lead the Lightning to give him one-way deals in three of the last four seasons but with his NHL time diminishing, it would certainly be understandable if they didn’t want to do so again.
If this is indeed the end of his NHL playing days, he’ll wrap up with 75 points in 193 NHL contests between the Lightning (two separate stints), Senators, Sabres, and Islanders.