Tomkins Assigned To Syracuse
- The Lightning have returned goaltender Matt Tomkins to AHL Syracuse, per a team release. He has been recalled recently with Jonas Johansson banged up and could be back up if Johansson can’t return on Tuesday versus Ottawa. The 30-year-old has a 2.87 GAA with a .900 SV% in 17 games with the Crunch this season.
Cirelli Questionable For Tonight
- Lightning center Anthony Cirelli is listed as a game-time decision for tonight’s contest against the Islanders, relays team reporter Benjamin Pierce (Twitter link). It’s unclear if Cirelli is under the weather or just dealing with a minor injury. Cirelli has 19 goals and 20 assists in 49 games this season while logging 18:56 per game, a career-high. Considering his personal best in points is 45, he’s well on his way to establishing a new benchmark in that category as well.
Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Matt Tomkins, Gage Goncalves
Unsurprisingly, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s roster move from yesterday was confirmed as a paper transaction. According to a team announcement, the Lightning confirmed this morning that they’ve recalled goaltender Matt Tomkins and forward Gage Goncalves from their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.
This evening, Tomkins will again serve as Andrei Vasilevskiy‘s backup while regular backup netminder Jonas Johansson recovers from his lower-body injury. This is Tomkins’s second recall in three days, but he’s still not expected to receive any playing time during his short stay with Tampa Bay.
The 30-year-old goaltender is in his second year with the Lightning organization after a two-year stint in the Swedish Hockey League. He’s been stable but unimpressive during his brief tenure with AHL Syracuse posting a 21-20-6 record in 46 games with a save percentage just above .900. Brandon Halverson is having a much better year than Tomkins in Syracuse, but he is ineligible to be rostered for Tampa Bay because he is still on an AHL contract. contract.
Goncalves has experienced several cap-related roster moves since clearing waivers on January 13th. The Lightning have a few weeks to use Goncalves in this role before they must send him through waivers again.
Still, despite the taxiing between Tampa Bay and AHL Syracuse, Goncalves has already hit a career-high in games played this season. He’s scored one goal and three points in 28 games for the Lightning this season averaging 11:47 of ice time per night in a bottom six role.
Lightning Reassign Matt Tomkins, Gage Goncalves
Jan. 31st: The Tampa Bay team has announced that they have reassigned goalie Tomkins and forward Gage Goncalves to AHL Syracuse. Since today is an off-day and there are no indications that Johansson is nearing a return, both players are expected to be back tomorrow night.
Jan. 30th: The Lightning may be without their regular netminders tonight against the Kings. Andrei Vasilevskiy remains a game-time decision due to illness after his absence against the Blackhawks on Tuesday forced them to sign Kyle Konin to an amateur tryout as an emergency backup, head coach Jon Cooper said (via the team’s Benjamin Pierce). Backup Jonas Johansson, who started the Chicago game, is now day-to-day with a lower-body injury and will not play tonight, according to Gabby Shirley of FanDuel Sports Network Sun. In a corresponding move, the team announced they’d recalled third-stringer Matt Tomkins from AHL Syracuse.
The Bolts don’t have another recall option from the AHL if both Vasilevskiy and Johansson are unavailable. Tomkins, their third-stringer, is their only other netminder under contract. He hasn’t even been Syracuse’s starter this season. He’s been overtaken in the role by 28-year-old Brandon Halverson, who remains without an NHL contract offer from the Bolts despite posting a stellar 2.02 GAA, .925 SV%, and four shutouts in 24 AHL appearances this season.
Nonetheless, Tomkins will dress tonight against Los Angeles. Whether he starts with Konin signing an ATO again to back up or whether Vasilevskiy can take the ice remains to be seen. The 30-year-old saw NHL ice for the first time last season, logging a 3-2-1 record with a 3.33 GAA and a .892 SV% in six appearances for Tampa. He has a 6-8-4 record and a .900 SV% in 17 games for Syracuse this season, his second in the Lightning organization after departing the Blackhawks’ system and spending two years in Sweden.
The 29-year-old Johansson has seen an increased workload lately as the Bolts look to give Vasilevskiy some mid-season rest. Five of his 12 starts this season have come this month. Overall, he’s continued to serve as a below-average backup option, which doesn’t matter much for Tampa, given the volume of starts Vasilevskiy logs. Still, a .892 SV% and 3.24 GAA aren’t particularly promising, considering they’re a few points above his lowly NHL career averages. He’s conceded 3.3 goals above expected in his ice time this year, per MoneyPuck, not the best insurance option in the event Vasilevskiy misses significant time.
Andrei Vasilevskiy Out, Lightning Sign Kyle Konin To Emergency Contract
The Tampa Bay Lightning Will be without star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy in Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Vasilevskiy missed Tampa’s morning practice due to an illness, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. Encina adds that backup Jonas Johansson will start the matchup, and that Kyle Konin has been signed to serve as an emergency backup.
In a rare occurrence for emergency backups, Konin has been in these shoes many times before. He filled an EBUG role for the Philadelphia Flyers earlier this season, supported Tampa Bay last April, and got a rookie lap with the St. Louis Blues in 2022. But despite multiple appearances, Konin hasn’t yet had to step into an NHL game. In fact, he hasn’t played since the 2018-19 season, when he set a .911 save percentage in 40 EHL games – a tier-three American juniors league. Konin now resides in Clearwater, Florida and works with a hockey-based scholarship program when he’s not being called to fill NHL benches.
But a warm story doesn’t reassure Tampa Bay’s chances on Tuesday. The Lightning are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. Johansson has supported the squad to a manageable 6-4-1 record in his starts, on the back of a .892 save percentage and 3.27 goals-against average. Tampa Bay will also be without heavy hitting defenseman Emil Martinsen Lilleberg, who was suspended two games for a late and high hit on Detroit’s J.T. Compher in Tampa Bay’s loss on Saturday. Declan Carlile has been tapped to fill in for Lilleberg and will hopefully help limit a barrage against Johansson.
Lightning’s Emil Martinsen Lilleberg Receives Two-Game Suspension
Jan. 27th: The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has announced a two-game suspension for Lilleberg. In the announcement, the Department of Player Safety references the lateness of the hit and the significant contact of Compher’s head as their reasoning behind the supplemental discipline.
Jan. 26th: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Emil Martinsen Lilleberg is scheduled to have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety for interference against Detroit Red Wings forward J.T. Compher in Saturday night’s loss. The hit came at 11:31 in the second period when Lilleberg stepped up for a late hit after Compher dumped the puck into the zone. The hit seemed high but it wasn’t clear if it contacted Compher’s head. Lilleberg received a two-minute penalty.
Lilleberg has been one of many depth defensemen to step up amid Tampa Bay’s string of blue-line injuries. He’s appeared in 45 of the team’s 48 games this season, rotating through roles on all three pairs. He has 11 assists and 76 penalty minutes on the year while playing in as little as 14 minutes or as much as 22 minutes each night. Lilleberg reached 82 career appearances with his last game, though he’s still searching for his first career goal. He recorded five assists and 16 penalty minutes in 37 appearances last season.
Tampa Bay saw the return of Erik Cernak in their Saturday matchup against Detroit, but they’re still without top-four defender J.J. Moser. Darren Raddysh has continued to serve next to Victor Hedman on the top pair, while Lilleberg and Nicklaus Perbix make up the bottom pair. Should Lilleberg face any form of suspension, the Bolts will likely turn towards one of Maxwell Crozier or Declan Carlile. The former has been the team’s de facto fill-in this month, but Carlile is the only left-shot of the team’s many injury fill-ins. Carlile has seven points and 37 penalty minutes in 36 AHL games this season but has only played in one NHL game.
Adding to this move, Tampa Bay has reassigned Crozier to the minor leagues. He served as the team’s seventh defenseman, but still dressed, for Saturday’s game – and could be called up again should Lilleberg face suspension.
Lightning Acquire Ryder Korczak From Rangers
The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired forward prospect Ryder Korczak from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward prospect Lucas Edmonds. Both players are in the midst of their third AHL season, after third-round selections in the 2021 and 2022 drafts respectively.
Neither player has managed much scoring in their early pro careers. Korczak has spent slightly longer in an NHL system. He was originally selected 75th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, after a season of being heralded as a second-to-third round pick. He was admired for his hard-working two-way play, high scoring, and leadership abilities through four years with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. He worked his way up to a staggering 69 points in 48 games in 2022-23, his final WHL season, before joining the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack for five games at the end of the year. Korczak has since worked his way through a middle-six role in Hartford. He scored 20 points in 67 games last season and is currently riding 11 points in 35 games this year. It’s commendable depth scoring, but far from what New York was hoping for from their gritty third-rounder.
After not landing a draft selection in 2019, 2020, or 2021 – the early-birthday Edmonds finally earned the 86th-overall selection in 2022 after posting 113 points in 68 games with the Kingston Frontenacs. He moved to the AHL in the following season and posted a commendable 15 goals and 27 points in 49 games as a rookie. But Edmonds has struggled to match those numbers since, totaling just 21 points in 71 games through the last two seasons.
Korczak and Edmonds share a lot of parallels – and will now get a chance to use a change of scenery to try and return to the heights of their junior scoring.
Cernak Out Tonight But Now Listed As Day-To-Day
The Tampa Bay Lightning will once again be without defenseman Erik Cernak, who was announced as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury short before puck-drop, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. He has missed Tampa Bay’s last three games since suffering an undisclosed injury on January 16th. Cernak left that game after just one shift but didn’t seem to suffer a clear injury.
Cernak has returned to the Lightning’s top four this season. The 27-year-old has scored 10 assists and averaged 18:15 in ice time through 41 games, putting him on pace to narrowly pass his career-high of 18 points set during the shortened 2020-21 campaign. He has been replaced in the lineup by rookie Maxwell Crozier, who’s still searching for his first point of the season after three NHL games. Crozier has also scored nine points in 22 AHL games this year. Cernak’s absence will likely return Crozier to the team’s second pair next to Ryan McDonagh, while Darren Raddysh‘s role on the top pair will go unchallenged for at least one more game.
Lightning Reassign Maxwell Crozier In Paper Transaction
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have again reassigned defenseman Maxwell Crozier to their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Crozier has been filling in for the injured Erik Černák, managing a +1 rating in the last three games while averaging 17:06 of ice time per game. Remarkably, thanks to a consistently healthy roster, Crozier is only the eighth defenseman to play more than two games for the Lightning this season.
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Lightning Recall Maxwell Crozier In Paper Transaction
- As it turns out, defenseman Erik Černák isn’t expected back in the lineup tonight for the Tampa Bay Lightning. In his absence, the team has opted to recall defenseman Maxwell Crozier who recently filled in for Černák in Tampa Bay’s last game. Crozier skated in 14:25 of the Lightning’s recent win against the Detroit Red Wings but was reassigned yesterday for cap-related motivations.
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