In a sign that some of the injured Tampa Bay Lightning players are starting to return to health, the team announced on Sunday that they had signed first-year forward Walterri Merela to the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL. The 25-year-old had appeared in 10 of the Lightning’s 11 games and had yet to record a point.
Just because he had been held off of the scoresheet doesn’t mean he’s been playing badly. With most of his playing time coming on the third or fourth line, defense was what was keeping him in the line-up. His 15.71 scoring chances against per 60 minutes is the second-lowest on the team (Tyler Motte had a 10.