On Friday, the Lightning re-assigned forward Waltteri Merela to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. It’s the second time he’s found himself on the Crunch’s roster in recent days, having been assigned two weeks ago before being recalled following Conor Sheary’s injury.
For Merela, it’s a chance to get some playing time in Syracuse and could be an indication that either Sheary or Andrei Vasilevskiy are ready to come back from their injuries. Vasy did accompany the team on their recent road trip and has been practicing on the ice. He is right in the estimated recovery time for the surgery that he had and there have been no indications that he’s had any setbacks.