Tampa Bay Lightning claim Riley Nash off waivers

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that they claimed 32-year-old forward Riley Nash off of waivers. Nash had been placed on waivers by the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.

In the fifteen games Nash played with the Jets this season he was held to zero goals and zero assists with a -1 +/- and averaged 8:49 of ice-time per game. While Nash is not known for his ability in the faceoff circle, he has been holding his own this season at a 53.8% rate, which is slightly higher than his 48.2% faceoff win rate for his career.

The question most Lightning fans probably want to know is why General Manager Julien BriseBois claimed Nash. JFreshHockey’s analytics show there is one thing Nash is really good at doing on the ice. Offensive suppression of both teams.

Lightning fans may remember Riley Nash’s name from his time on the Columbus Blue Jackets during the 2019 and 2020 playoff series against the Lightning. He played a major part in frustrating the 2019 Lightning team and driving the changes within the 2020 team that saw them defeat the Jackets in 5 games.

It will be interesting to see if Nash immediately see’s ice-time or was claimed for emergency depth while injuries to Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Gemel Smith still hamper the team’s forward depth.

Alex Barre-Boulet Down & Fredrik Claesson Up

Alex Barre-Boulet has had an interesting month to say the least. Two weeks ago, Barre-Boulet was reassigned to the Syracuse Crunch after Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh locked in roster spots ahead of him but was immediately recalled in the days after as a result of Brayden Point’s injury. Now, Barre-Boulet finds himself heading back to Syracuse.

Barre-Boulet had recently found himself on the outside looking in on the starting roster after being benched in the recent Boston Bruins game. More recently, coaching staff opted to play rookie forward Gabriel Fortier over Barre-Boulet in the Philadelphia Flyers game Sunday night.

Being passed over for Fortier and Nash is not a good sign for Barre-Boulet, but he will now get the opportunity to play expanded minutes with the Crunch and continue to work on his game.

Additionally, the Lightning have recalled defenseman Fredrik Claesson. Claesson’s return to the Lightning comes after the team announced Erik Cernak remains out on a day-to-day basis. Claesson will likely only be used in the circumstance that one of the six healthy defensemen on the Lightning become injured before Cernak’s return.