Tampa Bay Lightning: Ryan McDonagh Injury Gives Bolts Options
By Kyle Pereira
Option 2: Call-up Callan Foote or Dominik Masin
To me, this would be the best option, even if it doesn’t work out. Think about it for a second, the Lightning have tested their young defensemen in the past, with two prime examples happening last season. It’s also happened with young forwards, too.
Last year, the Lightning dealt with several injuries on their blueline. It led to the promotion of long-shot (at the time) defenseman, Erik Cernak. He was thrown into a rotation with Braydon Coburn, Dan Girardi, Anton Stralman, and Mikhail Sergachev. He wound up playing so well that he was no longer rotated in and out of the lineup, solidifying the spot across from McDonagh. This year, when McDonagh has been out, he’s gotten an opportunity on the first pairing with Hedman.
Also, last year, after Cernak had already carved out a role on the Lightning, there were more injuries. It led to recent trade acquisition, Jan Rutta, to get a roster spot. He also produced well enough to consistently draw into the lineup, and up until the playoffs, was really good.
This year, the Lightning dealt with several injuries to forwards, along with a few players under-performing, which led to Carter Verhaeghe being rewarded a spot to start the season and then, eventually, Mitchell Stephens getting awarded a call-up. Neither rookie forward has looked back since.
Because of the patterns developed over the last year or so, it would come as no surprise that the Lightning would award guys like Dominik Masin and Cal Foote an opportunity. Not to mention, Masin and Foote look better at the AHL level than Cernak did at the time of his call-up.
Why not give them an opportunity to prove they belong on the Lightning roster? Why not re-establish that blueline rotation they had last year, this time including Foote instead of Cernak. Even if neither of those young defenders pans out down the stretch, they are waiver exempt and could be sent back down to Syracuse.
But those young guys are playing well with Syracuse, so why would you want to rip them away and possibly hurt their progression? Which brings me to my next point.