The Lightning have added an extra blueliner to their roster heading into their five-game road trip as the team announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Emil Martinsen Lilleberg from AHL Syracuse.
It’s the second recall of the season for the 23-year-old who was originally drafted by Arizona in 2021 but signed with Tampa Bay after the Coyotes elected not to sign him. Lilleberg played in 23 games with the Lightning during his first stint with the big club, picking up three assists along with 24 blocks and 69 hits while logging nearly 16 minutes a night of ice time. With the Crunch, meanwhile, Lilleberg has two goals and 11 helpers in 33 contests so far.
CapFriendly notes (Twitter link) that this has been classified as an emergency loan, meaning that it won’t against Tampa Bay’s four post-deadline recalls. It also suggests that the availability of one of their blueliners is in question for tonight’s game against Florida. However, that designation also means that Lilleberg has to be returned to the minors once the emergency situations ends or be converted to a regular recall which would count against their recall limit.