Tampa Bay Lightning Surprisingly Place Former Second Round Pick on Waivers

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Tom Banks
October 27, 2024 (2:18 PM)

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are off to a great start this season, but on Sunday they made a surprise move by waiving a former top pick in Gabriel Fortier.

Through eight games this year, the Tampa Bay Lightning have posted a record of 5-3-0, showing that they may be back to the form that once made them Stanley Cup favourites. Now however, they've made a surprise move, as the team officially placed former second-round draft pick Gabriel Fortier on waivers.

According to NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman, he underwent surgery this past off-season, and the team making the move now may signify that he is on the verge of a return. Over the past two years, Fortier has mainly played with the AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch, tallying 29 and 26 points over those two seasons. Standing at 5-foot-11, Fortier has to rely on his skills rather than his size to compete at the professional level, with consistently solid production in the AHL since turning pro back in 2018/19.

At 24-years of age, there's still plenty of potential for the Quebec native, who has played in just 11 NHL games over his career, tallying 1 goal over that stretch while providing them great organizational depth for their forward group. At this point, it's unclear if Fortier will ever become an NHL regular in Tampa Bay, as the team fully expect him to clear waivers so he can head back to the AHL for the near future as he continues to get back to 100%.

Unsurprisingly however, there is once again very little movement on the waivers front in the NHL, as Fortier is the lone name on waivers on Sunday, and with no news from Saturday, the waiver movement will continue to slow down as the season rolls on.