When defenseman Matt Taormina was dealt to the Springfield Falcons in 2013, as part of a deal that brought forwards Jonathan Marchessault and Dalton Smith to the Crunch, Syracuse hockey fans didn’t quite realize how much they would miss the then 27-year-old’s presence on the backend. In the two seasons that followed, the lack of consistency on the Syracuse blue-line was one of the primary reasons the Crunch only had one playoff appearance, in which they were swept in three games by the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins.
During the summer of 2015, Syracuse Crunch GM Julien Brisebois addressed the situation and again inked the veteran Taormina.