At this morning’s Tampa Bay Lightning practice, there were increasing signs that Brayden Point was closing in on returning to the lineup. He was a full participant, centering the top line between Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov. He also resumed his place on the first power play unit that Tyler Johnson had been occupying. The Lightning’s next game is Thursday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs and it looks like he’s ready to make his return in Toronto.
We got further confirmation of that at noon today. Gemel Smith was placed on waivers yesterday, a fact that seemed to go unnoticed on social media, and cleared without being claimed today.