Lightning Recall Conor Geekie, Jakob Pelletier, Dylan Duke
April 8th: According to a team announcement, the Lightning have sent Duke back to AHL Syracuse. He skated in 9:22 of action last night against the Senators, earning a -1 rating while going scoreless.
April 7th: The Lightning have added forwards Conor Geekie, Jakob Pelletier, and Dylan Duke on recall from AHL Syracuse ahead of tonight’s game against the Senators, Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports. They’ve reassigned winger Mitchell Chaffee to Syracuse in a corresponding move, Erlendsson adds.
All the roster shuffling comes on the heels of the Bolts’ banged-up forward corps sustaining another injury last night against the Sabres. Pontus Holmberg was checked into the penalty box door as the attendant was opening it for Buffalo’s Zach Benson to return to play in the third period after his roughing penalty had expired. He sustained an apparent left shoulder/upper arm injury on the play and was seen in a sling postgame, per John Wawrow of the Associated Press.
There’s no timeline for his return yet, although it stands to reason Holmberg will be unavailable tonight. With Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel already sidelined with short-term issues, the trio of recalls plus Chaffee’s demotion leaves them with an extra healthy forward.
Geekie sees his second recall of the season as Tampa looks to remain narrowly ahead of the Sabres and Canadiens for the Atlantic Division crown. The 2022 11th overall pick was acquired from Utah in the Mikhail Sergachev trade in 2024 and remains the Bolts’ top prospect. He’s still scratching the surface at the NHL level, but has been a dominant two-way piece throughout his junior and now minor-league career. This year, he’s lighting it up with a 17-42–59 scoring line in 56 AHL games, along with a +13 rating that ranks sixth on the team.
Geekie’s only other recall this season, aside from his brief stint on the roster after making it on opening night, came in early March when Dominic James went down with a leg injury that required surgery. He headed back to Syracuse 11 days later once Nick Paul was ready to come off injured reserve. He managed one assist in five games, bringing his season total up to two and 11, respectively. Even with so many mounting injuries, don’t expect head coach Jon Cooper to use Geekie in high-leverage situations. He hasn’t shown a willingness to recently, averaging only 12:20 of ice time per game last year and just 9:51 this season.
As for Pelletier, the 25-year-old signed one of the more unusual contracts of the 2025 offseason. He agreed to a three-year, league-minimum deal with Tampa after being non-tendered by the Flyers, who had acquired him just months earlier from the Flames in the Morgan Frost/Joel Farabee deal. The 2019 first-round pick is technically on a two-way deal this year before converting to a one-way pact for 2026-27 and 2027-28, but he still has enough pro experience to require waivers.
Pelletier cleared without incident in the preseason, and a handful of teams are likely regretting not putting in a claim. With 28 goals and 75 points in 61 games for Syracuse, he’s well set up to take home the AHL’s scoring crown. It’ll be the second time he’s hit over a point per game in the AHL and has brought his career average there up to 1.03.
Perhaps the most quintessential example of a ‘AAAA’ player in hockey, he still hasn’t managed to latch onto a full-time NHL job. Over the past four seasons, he has a respectable 11 goals and 29 points in 88 games while averaging a shade under 12 minutes per night. His 5’10”, 172-lb frame doesn’t lend him toward being a bottom-six checking threat, though, and his 1.26 career shots on goal per game are low for a player who’s made such a living putting up points in the AHL.
He may get another look tonight as the Bolts face a decision on whether or not to expose him to waivers again in the fall. He could be a natural low-cost replacement for pending UFA Oliver Bjorkstrand, who has essentially transitioned into a power-play specialist for Tampa this season.
Not to be overlooked is Duke, the Bolts’ fourth-round pick in 2021. The former Michigan standout has now had a pair of productive seasons to begin his pro career in Syracuse, upping his production to 31 goals and 55 points in 67 outings this season. This is his first recall of the year, but he did score a goal across a pair of games in his NHL debut late last season.
Given his lack of experience, though, he’s the likeliest candidate to sit in the press box tonight if the Bolts end up having a healthy extra to spare. Their clash with the Senators has a 31-point swing on their chances of finishing first in the division, while it’s got a 29% swing on Ottawa’s playoff hopes. A win for Tampa would move their Atlantic title chances up to 73%, a win for the Senators boosts their playoff odds to 85%, per MoneyPuck.
Minor Transactions: 10/4/25
With the preseason wrapping up today, some teams will be recalling players they’ve already cut to give them one more game or they will be returning players recently brought up for that purpose. We’ll keep track of those moves here along with any other minor transactions.
- The Sabres announced that defensemen Vsevelod Komarov and Zach Metsa have been returned to AHL Rochester. Komarov is entering his second professional season while Metsa was one of the top-scoring blueliners in the minors last season, notching 46 points with the Amerks.
- The Devils have brought up forwards Jack Malone and Matyas Melovsky from AHL Utica, per a team release. Malone had 13 points in 57 games with the Comets in his first professional campaign while Melovsky is entering the first year of his entry-level deal after putting up 83 points in 57 games with QMJHL Baie-Comeau last season.
- The Blackhawks announced that they’ve recalled more than half a lineup from Rockford for their preseason finale. Returning from AHL Rockford are goalie Mitchell Weeks, defenseman Cavan Fitzgerald, Taige Harding, and Kevin Korchinski, plus forwards Gavin Hayes, Paul Ludwinski, Martin Misiak, Samuel Savoie, Brett Seney, Aidan Thompson, and Dominic Toninato.
- Veteran defenseman Andrej Sustr was let go from his NHL PTO last weekend. However, he has found a new team to try out for as Stefan Rosner of The Hockey News relays (Twitter link) that the 34-year-old has inked a PTO deal with AHL Bridgeport. Sustr split last season between Czechia and Finland and hasn’t played in North America since 2022-23 when he split time between Minnesota and Anaheim’s farm teams.
- The Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled forwards Chase Bradley, Maros Jedlicka, Taylor Makar, Jayson Megna, Tristen Nielsen, and T.J. Tynan, along with defensemen Sean Behrens and Alex Gagne from AHL Colorado. They were all cut earlier in training camp and should be sent back to the Eagles in short order following their game tonight.
- The Rangers announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled goalie Callum Tung and forward Casey Terrance from AHL Hartford. Tung will be entering his first full professional campaign after signing with New York out of college late last season while Terrance was acquired this past offseason as part of the Chris Kreider trade.
- As expected, a day after recalling forward Shane Bowers, defenseman Braden Hache, and goalie Jakub Skarek from AHL San Jose, the Sharks announced (Twitter link) that all three players have been returned to the Barracuda.
- A day after recalling him, the Oilers announced (Twitter link) that they’ve sent goaltender Matt Tomkins back to AHL Bakersfield. Tomkins is in his first season with Edmonton and cleared waivers earlier this week.
- The Lightning have brought a few players back for their preseason finale. The team has recalled forwards Dylan Duke, Boris Katchouk, Scott Sabourin, and Wojciech Stachowiak, plus defensemen Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Roman Schmidt from AHL Syracuse, per a team release.
Lightning Reassign Dylan Duke, Gage Goncalves, Brandon Halverson
The Lightning reassigned forwards Dylan Duke, Gage Goncalves, and goaltender Brandon Halverson to AHL Syracuse on Monday, per a team announcement. Tampa Bay was one of four teams on the schedule yesterday, the final day of game action prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off, explaining why these paper moves didn’t take place amid yesterday’s flurry.
The trio of Duke, Goncalves and Halverson join the many other players headed to the minors over the break to get more playing time. In all likelihood, Goncalves will be the only one back on the roster when their schedule resumes on Feb. 23 versus the Kraken. Duke had only entered the lineup recently, making his NHL debut in the Bolts’ final two games before the break. Halverson was up from Syracuse as the replacement for injured backup Jonas Johansson. Johansson enters the break with a day-to-day designation due to a lower-body injury, so he should be ready when Tampa returns to action in nearly two weeks.
Duke, 21, got on the box score in his first NHL try. The Ohio native and University of Michigan alum scored in his debut against the Red Wings on Saturday on his lone shot attempt across both games. Besides that, his performance was hard to judge with minimal usage. Duke skated just 15:43 total across the two contests, during which time the Bolts were out-attempted 14-7. However, Tampa was out-chanced heavily in both wins, so his Corsi share wasn’t too far south of the team average.
The Bolts selected Duke in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, and he’s looking like a good depth pick. The 5’10” winger/center plays a physical game and has transitioned well to professional hockey, leading Syracuse with 13 goals in 36 games in his rookie season. This likely won’t be his last recall of the season as he pushes for a full-time promotion to the active roster sometime over the next couple of seasons.
Goncalves has spent most of the season in the NHL, albeit with underwhelming results. The 24-year-old pivot has 1-6–7 through 33 games and cleared waivers last month, so the Bolts will extend his 30-day clock by ferrying him to the AHL over the break. He should go back to logging heavy minutes in Syracuse, with whom he’s torched the league for 4-10–14 in only 11 showings so far in 2024-25. He’s coming off a spectacular 45-assist, 58-point showing in 69 games last year, although the 2020 second-rounder is still learning how to transition his offensive upside to the NHL.
Halverson only recently signed a two-way deal with the Bolts, a necessity with Johansson banged up and Matt Tomkins standing as the only other goaltender under contract in the organization. The 6’5″ 28-year-old backed up Andrei Vasilevskiy on multiple occasions but failed to enter a game for the first time since the 2017-18 season. He has a .918 SV%, 2.20 GAA, four shutouts, and a 12-7-7 record in 26 games this year.
Lightning Recall Dylan Duke
After returning winger Conor Sheary to the minors this morning, the Lightning wasted little time filling his vacated roster spot. The team announced that they’ve recalled forward Dylan Duke from AHL Syracuse.
It’s the first career regular season recall for the 21-year-old. Duke was selected late in the fourth round back in 2021 by Tampa Bay, going 126th overall. He spent three seasons at the University of Michigan, the last of which was a dominant effort coming last season that saw him record 26 goals and 23 assists in just 41 games, good for a share of 11th in Division I scoring. Duke also had a brief stint with the Crunch last season, getting into three regular season games and five playoff contests.
Duke has played exclusively with Syracuse so far in his first professional campaign. Through 36 outings this season, he has 13 goals and nine assists, ranking him tied for third in points on the Crunch while being their only double-digit goalscorer.
With the recall, Tampa Bay’s active roster now stands at 22 players but that likely won’t be the case for long. With the 4 Nations Face-Off break coming up next week, Duke will likely be returned to the Crunch at that time.
Lightning Recall Dylan Duke
Forward Dylan Duke will get another look in the preseason with the Lightning. He won’t make the opening night roster after being cut from camp on Sunday, but he’s been recalled ahead of tonight’s exhibition game against the Panthers, the team announced.
The 21-year-old is slated to play most of his first professional season with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, although there’s a decent chance he’ll be near the top of Tampa’s list for mid-season call-ups. His showing in tonight’s contest will likely go a long way toward determining that.
A fourth-round pick back in 2021, the Ohio native has played the last three seasons on a star-studded University of Michigan squad. He ramped up his production every year, topping out with 26 goals, 23 assists, and 49 points in 41 games in 2023-24. He finished third on the team in scoring behind the Blue Jackets’ Gavin Brindley and the Penguins’ Rutger McGroarty and earned himself a spot on the Big 10 Conference’s Second All-Star Team.
Duke joined the Crunch for the final few games of the regular season and the playoffs, posting a combined two assists and a -1 rating in eight contests. He’ll be looking to make a much greater offensive impact after a summer of training. The sniper is under contract through 2026-27 and can play both left wing and center, although he’ll likely suit up at the former if he lands a full-time NHL role.
Lightning Sign Dylan Duke To Entry-Level Deal
The Lightning have signed forward Dylan Duke to a three-year, entry-level deal beginning next season, per a team announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed. The center, who the Lightning drafted in the fourth round in 2021, will immediately report to AHL Syracuse on an ATO.
Duke, 21, had been with the University of Michigan since his draft year and had his season end late last week in a national tournament semifinal loss to Boston College. He opts to turn pro after his junior year.
In 41 games this season, he scored 26 goals, 23 assists and 49 points with a +8 rating, setting career highs offensively and ranking third on the Wolverines in scoring. He’s the second high-profile Michigan player to turn pro in recent days, joining Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar.
Duke doesn’t let his small frame (5’10”, 181 pounds) stop him from being a problem for opposing netminders. He’s consistently a solid net-front presence once his team gets set up, earning most of his tallies from within 10 feet of the crease. He’s a bright spot in a relatively weak Tampa Bay pool, checking in as their fourth-best prospect in Scott Wheeler’s 2024 rankings for The Athletic.
Don’t expect to see Duke’s name on the NHL roster come opening night this fall. He’s not the fastest player in the world, and considering his frame already puts him at a disadvantage, the Lightning would probably like to see how he stacks up against professional opponents in the AHL. He also profiles more as a winger than a center at the NHL level – he shifted to wing for most of his collegiate career – likely in a middle-six role.
That’s not ideal for the Lightning, who are incredibly thin at center among their up-and-comers. However, they won’t complain about an influx of young talent at any position as their contention window slowly closes. Duke, along with top-40 picks Ethan Gauthier and Isaac Howard, are a promising group of potential secondary scorers.
Duke will be under contract with the Bolts through 2026-27. The following summer, he will be an RFA without an extension.