Report: Tampa Bay Lightning To Waive Notable Young Forward

According to Joe Smith of The Athletic, the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to waive young forward Alex Barre-Boulet. It would be very surprising if no team elects to claim him.

Alex Barre-Boulet was told he’ll be put on waivers today by ⁦@TBLightning⁩, with hopes he lands in Syracuse. More on roster taking shape and what we learned about Cup champs during preseason (50% off sub link) https://t.co/wjzmZX3Lk0
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) October 10, 2021

With all of Tampa Bay's subtractions this summer, it seemed very likely that Barre-Boulet was going to make the roster for the regular season. Yet, that is now not coming into fruition.

Barre-Boulet split this past season with both the Lightning and their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. In 15 games with the Lightning last season, he scored three goals. In his 10 contests with the Crunch, he scored a notable eight goals and had 12 points.

Over the two previous seasons with the Crunch, he was nearly a point-per-game player as well in each of them. In his final season in juniors with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, he scored 53 goals and had 116 points in 65 games. Thus, he's been a consistently strong scorer in every league besides the NHL at this juncture. Yet, he has the potential to become one at the NHL level.

It will be interesting to see if another team claims him. Teams at the bottom of the standings last season, like the Buffalo Sabres, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets should consider him.