Raw Charge
Summary
The Tampa Bay Lightning made a somewhat surprising move on Wednesday when they reassigned center Dominic James to the Syracuse Crunch. With Zemgus Girgensons not expected back until the weekend road trip, and Yanni Gourde not quite ready to go, it leaves the Lightning a forward short for at least a game. It’s a good thing they’re used to an 11/7 line-up, because it looks likes they’ll play at least one more game with that rotation. So, why James? Honestly, there are probably a couple of reasons*. It’s easy to read the tea leaves and know that the Lightning are going to need a roster spot for a forward soon, even if they go to a 12/6 line-up. Zemgus Girgensons should be back soon and will be right back into the line-up. The same goes for Yanni Gourde. Both can play forward, and both will likely be on the bottom-six when they return. In other words, the same role that James has been occupying on the ice in the early part of the season. At Wednesday’s practice, coach Jon Cooper explained the team’s reasoning on sending the center to the Crunch, “There’s a lot of things that factor, but primarily it is to get James more reps. He is a big part of our future, but he needs to get back to playing. Playing on a regular basis, not being in and out of the lineup. That’s why we have the system we have is so that can happen and so, hopefully, he can progress down there and we can get him back up here soon.” With the way the roster is currently constructed, there were two forwards that could be assigned to Syracuse without having to go on waivers – James and Conor Geekie. With Geekie’s recent offensive outburst (three goals in four games) he solidified his spot, and may see some increased playing time moving forward. It would have been a lot harder to justify sending him down. While James has an element in his game that the Lightning lack, speed, there was a little more justification in his reassignment. Other potential players that could have sent to Syracuse, most notably Gage Goncalves and Scott Sabourin would have to clear waivers. Sabourin, who has appeared in just three games would likely have cleared, but it removes one of the few physical elements in the Bolts line-up. Goncalves, a player who generates strong opinions among the fans, would have been a tougher clear, and has posted stronger possession numbers than James so far through the season. It’s been a rough start to the year for the 24-year-old pending restricted free agent. It started with a broken wrist suffered at the beginning of on-ice workouts prior to training camp, and while he’s had some good moments in the six games he’s played, he hasn’t hit the production levels that he put up as a rookie. On the season, he’s assisted on two goals while averaging 12:05 of ice time, but that number has been dwindling over recent games. Despite the Lightning going with just eleven forwards against Detroit, James played 10:34 in the Bolts 4-2 victory. Some of his underlying numbers have been concerning as well. The Lightning have a 2-1 goals-scored advantage while he’s on the ice, but have been out-chanced 23-35 with an 8-18 deficit when it comes to high-danger chances. With only 5 of his 46 shifts starting in the defensive zone, those numbers look even worse. Part of the issue when it came to playing time is that James was basically just on the ice for 5v5 play. He had zero minutes of ice time on the penalty kill and just over three minutes of power play time While he’s still one of the faster skaters on the Lightning, he hasn’t quite hit the levels that he was at last season. According to NHL Edge stats , his max speed is down from 23.71 MPH to 22.20 MPH, and his rankings in the 20-22 MPH bursts is way down. It’s worth remembering that he suffered a pretty significant leg injury last season and may just not be up to full speed yet. Getting some reps in Syracuse won’t be a bad thing for him. It’s unlikely that James will stay in the AHL for the rest of the season. Injuries, roster movement, and poor production will lead to more roster churn. When that happens James will be at the top of the list for recalls. In the meantime, he’ll get a chance to get his reps in and play close to 20 minutes a night. *Wildly speculative it-all-comes-back-to-trading-Kucherov rumor that has no basis in reality. The Lightning send down James, and recall Jakob Pelletier, who recorded back-to-back hat tricks for the Crunch, to fill the first-line winger role after Kucherov is dealt to (spins wheel) the New York Islanders for Kashawn Aitcheson, Anthony Duclair, Calum Ritchie, and a 2028 first-round pick. You read it here first!