Tampa Bay Lightning Place Barre-Boulet on Waivers

Amid the shuffling of the deck to become salary cap compliant for opening night, the Tampa Bay Lightning have placed forward Alex Barre-Boulet on waivers this afternoon ahead of their opening game against Nashville. This move became somewhat expected in anticipation that the Lightning will recall Zach Bogosian as an eighth defenseman tomorrow. Bogosian cleared waivers himself yesterday and should be expected officially “re-join” the club tomorrow.

Barre-Boulet was initially listed on the Lightning’s opening night roster but it seems it was more of a technicality as part of the process to become cap compliant ahead of opening night and allow Walterri Merela to play right out of the gate. With Barre-Boulet on waivers, it solidifies that Barre-Boulet has once again been unable to crack the Lightning roster and his time in the organization may come to an end if a team is to claim him within the next 24 hours.

It looked as though this would be Barre-Boulet’s time to break through and become an NHL regular. Barre-Boulet came into camp as the favorite to land the 12th forward spot available but it was not to be. This training camp felt as though it was a now or never chance for Barre-Boulet and it is hard to see him having a chance with this organization again as there is a decent chance another team will try and claim him.

If Barre-Boulet goes unclaimed, he will likely return to the Syracuse Crunch where he will go down as one of the greatest players in the franchise’s history.

Barre-Boulet was also placed on waivers at the beginning of the 2021-22 season and was claimed by the Seattle Kraken early in their inaugural season.  Barre-Boulet played in just two games for the Kraken before subsequently being placed on waivers by Seattle and then being re-claimed by the Lightning.

Barre-Boulet not making the team this time around is in large part due to the emergence of Waltteri Merela who is expected to dress for his first NHL game tonight. At 6’2 and 25 years old, Merela has impressed in the preseason. Despite a solid resume playing professionally in Europe, Merela’s debut tonight will not just be his debut in the NHL, but in North America in general.

Merela’s game seemed to be more suited for what the Lightning are looking for rather than Barre-Boulet. Merela is a noticeably bigger and seems to viewed as a more complete and defensively responsible player. Whether or not this is the final dagger in Barre-Boulet’s time in the organization remains to be seen but it is clear that things are just not going to work out for him here at the NHL level.