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NHL Free Agency: Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Forward Tom Pyatt

The Tampa Bay Lightning recently announced the signing of forward Tom Pyatt to a one-year, two-way contract. While this is a minor move — it’s unclear whether he’ll start the season in the AHL or on one of the later lines for the Bolts — it’s important to have organizational depth, and Pyatt has the skills to be a contributor for the Lightning right away.

As John Fontana from Raw Charge noted, Pyatt could potentially serve a replacement for Sean Bergenheim or Nate Thompson:

Former Montreal Canadiens center Tom Pyatt, who has experience playing under Guy Boucher from the 2009-10 season with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League, was inked by the Lightning today to a one-year, two-way contract.

Pyatt’s a defensive forward, though a little undersized (5’11", 180 lbs). He saw consistent time on the Habs penalty kill last season (averaging 2:11 of tice-time on the PK per game). He becomes immediate competition to Blair Jones and Mattias Ritola for the role of 3rd line grinder/agitator, which Bergenheim had performed last season.

Either way, the Bolts now have another player to look at in the preseason when trying to flesh out their team.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.