Tampa Bay re-signs Marchessault, Blunden

The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed forwards Jonathan Marchessault and Mike Blunden to one-year, two-way contracts for the 2015-16 season, vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman announced.

 

Marchessault, 24, played in two Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Lightning this past postseason. He also appeared in two games with the Bolts during the 2014-15 regular season, recording one goal. Marchessault scored his first career NHL goal on April 11, 2015 in the Lightning’s regular season finale against the Boston Bruins.
 
The Cap-Rouge, Quebec native also played in 68 AHL games with the Syracuse Crunch last season, ranking sixth in the league for assists with 43.
 
Blunden, 6-foot-4, 216 pounds, played in two games with the Lightning last season, recording two penalty minutes.  He played in 33 games with Tampa Bay’s top minor league affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, in 2014-15, recording 13 goals and 22 points. Despite a limited number of games he ranked tied for sixth on the Crunch for goals.
 
A native of Toronto, Ontario, Blunden has appeared in 104 NHL games with the Lightning, the Montreal Canadiens, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks.  He has recorded four goals and eight points during his NHL career, which also includes one playoff game with the Canadiens in 2013.  Blunden has played in 412 career AHL games with Syracuse, the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Rockford IceHogs and the Norfolk Admirals, posting 96 goals and 209 points.  He has also skated in 13 career Calder Cup Playoff games with the IceHogs and Admirals.