Yesterday, Lighting Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman announced that the Tampa Bay Lightning have made their final round of cuts before the start of the 2013-14 NHL Season.

Sep 24, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin (27) handles the puck against the Nashville Predators during the first period at Bridgestone Arena. The Predators beat the Lightning 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

Some of those cuts were expected, but among expectation was quite a few surprises; one of which was the Lighting’s 3rd overall draft pick, Jonathan Drouin.

Drouin put up an impressive performance during the preseason. One of the highlights was scoring the final point in the shootout between the Lightning and the Florida Panthers on Saturday, September 21st.

Here is the list of the players that have been reassigned.

Player Team League Mike Angelidis* Syracuse Crunch AHL J.T. Brown Syracuse Crunch AHL Brett Connolly Syracuse Crunch AHL J.P. Cote Syracuse Crunch AHL Jonathan Drouin Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL Kristers Gudlevskis Florida Everblades ECHL Dmitry Korobov Syracuse Crunch AHL Nikita Kucherov Syracuse Crunch AHL Matt Taormina* Syracuse Crunch AHL Dana Tyrell Syracuse Crunch AHL

*Players must clear waivers to be reassigned.

Another surprise among this list is right wing Brett Connolly. After his spectacular showing last season with the Crunch and the fantastic performance he put on during the preseason with the Tampa Bay Lightning, many assumed that he would be a sure fire choice to make the Lightning’s main roster.

However, I feel his may not be a tale of doom and gloom. I am fairly certain that the second one of our main roster guys falls short due to injury, Connolly will be the one of the first people they call.

Are there any names on this list that come as a shock to you? Do you think we will see any of these guys during the course of the season? If so, who? Let us know in the comments below.

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