Lightning recall Philippe Myers, Mitchell Chaffee

The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled defenseman Philippe Myers and forward Mitchell Chaffee from their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.

These are not recalls the Lightning have enough cap space to make without any corresponding moves, according to CapFriendly. So CapFriendly notes that the team has likely shifted injured forward Conor Sheary from regular injured reserve to the long-term injured list, a move that would effectively clear as much as $2M in cap space for the team to work with.

Myers, 26, is a smooth-skating six-foot-six right-shot defenseman who has played most of this season in the AHL for the Crunch. He’s played in one NHL contest this season, a November 14 shutout loss to the St. Louis Blues, and has otherwise played in a minutes-eating role for the Crunch.

A veteran of over 150 NHL games, Myers will provide some cover on defense for the Lightning in case any of its blueliners are unavailable tonight for the team’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.

As for Chaffee, the 25-year-0ld has, unlike Myers, not yet made his Lightning debut. Signed out of the Minnesota Wild organization over the summer, Chaffee is currently tied with Gage Goncalves for the Crunch scoring lead with 19 points in 21 games.

Chaffee missed most of last season with a knee injury, an ailment that limited him to just 10 games played. It’s possible that injury is what caused the Wild to opt not to tender Chaffee a contract in the offseason, but so far that decision has been to the Lightning’s benefit.

Chaffee has been one of the Crunch’s most important players and could end up providing some scoring ability in a depth role should he be called upon to play NHL games for the Lightning.