Prior to the Lightning’s New Year’s eve tilt against the Buffalo Sabres, their opponent made an interesting decision to sign Dalton Smith to a two-way contract and called him up from the Rochester Americans of the AHL. Fans of both teams saw this as Buffalo bringing up a “tough” guy to face the Lightning after Tampa Bay had made some questionable hits in previous match-ups this season.
Lost in the social media hysteria that these types of moves generate was the fact that Smith, an eight-year veteran, was finally getting a shot to play in the NHL after a career that has taken him from Springfield to Syracuse to Providence to LeHigh Valley to Estero to Rochester and finally Buffalo.