The Tampa Bay Lightning made a couple of moves ahead of their final game of the regular season Wednesday. Early that afternoon, that announced that forwards Mitchell Chaffee and Jakob Pelletier had been recalled to the Lightning while Conor Geekie was reassigned to the Syracuse Crunch.
While this move is likely temporary to evaluate talent and prevent injury during a meaningless game ahead of the playoffs, it did give the Crunch's top scorers an opportunity to showcase what they bring to the table at the NHL level once again.
After spending the majority of the 2024-25 season with the Lightning, Chaffee was relegated to an American Hockey League role for much of this season. He did well for the Lightning's farm team though, scoring 24 goals and 57 points in 54 games. While the 28-year-old likely doesn't have much high-end NHL upside at this stage in his career, he's trying to prove he can still be a serviceable depth option when needed.
Pelletier on the other hand has some solid NHL upside if he's able to start stringing performances together at that level. He's no longer the highly touted prospect that he was half of a decade ago, but he's proven he's an elite-level scorer in the AHL. At this stage, he could likely turn into a middle-six scoring forward which could allow him to compete for an NHL spot if Oliver Bjorkstrand or Corey Perry don't return next season.
Both players will likely be returned to Syracuse before they start the playoffs, but the Crunch do have a couple of games remaining in the regular season before that comes into play.