The Tampa Bay Lightning have sent defenseman Haydn Fleury to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch on a conditioning assignment. Fleury has only played in two NHL games this season, serving as a healthy scratch seven times.
Fleury has recorded one assist in his two games with Tampa this year, matching the scoring totals that he reached in 29 games with the club last year. In fact, Fleury has scored fewer than five points in each of the 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 seasons despite playing in at least 29 games in each season. The low scoring has represented a fall from grace for the 2014 seventh-overall selection, who was taken one pick ahead of star winger William Nylander. This AHL assignment will provide Fleury with the first AHL games he’s played since the 2018-19 season when he scored 10 points in 28 minor league games with the Charlotte Checkers. The 27-year-old defender has totaled 246 career NHL games and 33 career points since making his NHL debut in 2017-18.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Columbus Blue Jackets are healthy-scratching forward Mathieu Olivier, replacing him with Kirill Marchenko. The duo are alternating nights in the lineup versus the press box, although Columbus will need to be mindful in icing Marchenko, as he loses his waiver exemption status with four more NHL games.
- The Carolina Hurricanes have removed Vasily Ponomarev from season-opening injured reserve and assigned him to the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners. Carolina remains without an AHL affiliate, meaning their assignments are scattered around the league. That’s why Ponomarev will join the Arizona Coyotes’ affiliate, after appearing in his rookie AHL season last year – scoring 46 points in 64 games with the Chicago Wolves, a mark that ranked second on the team. Ponomarev has looked strong in his North American play since coming over in 2021-22 and will look to continue working his way into the NHL lineup now that he’s healthy.
Next call up .
Did Ron Francis ever blow that draft.