On Saturday the Tampa Bay Lightning announced forward Luke Witkowski had been placed on waivers for the purpose of re-assignment to the Syracuse Crunch, the Lightning’s AHL affiliate. Luckily for the Lightning, all 30 other NHL teams passed on him and Witkowski skated in his first game for the Crunch (a 4-2 loss to the Hershey Bears) on Sunday evening.
The seventh-year pro was reunited with Tampa Bay this off-season after spending the last two seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. Officially listed as 6’2” and 217 pounds, Witkowski was signed as part of an effort by the Lightning to add physicality to the lineup after their now infamous first-round sweep at the hands of a much larger and much more physical Columbus Blue Jackets team in April.