Lightning finalize opening-night roster, which has several new faces

TAMPA — As a 10-year-old growing up in Finland, Waltteri Merela hung a poster of Steven Stamkos on his bedroom wall. Monday morning, Merela — a dark-horse candidate to make the Lightning’s opening-night roster — learned he’ll be able to call Stamkos a teammate to start the season.

“We had this Finnish hockey magazine coming (to our house), like, once a month,” Merela said Monday, describing the feeling of making his first NHL roster. “In, like, 2008, there was a Stammer poster in between there. … And now I’m playing with the guy in the NHL. You can imagine how that must feel. It’s pretty amazing.”

The Lightning officially will open the 2023-24 season Tuesday against the Predators at Amalie Arena as the first game of a nationally televised tripleheader.

Forget the turnover from the 2020 Stanley Cup championship team. Of the 23 players who will start the season with the Lightning, 11 weren’t on the roster at this time a year ago. That includes both healthy goaltenders, as Jonas Johansson and Matt Tomkins will fill in for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy.

“The groups we’ve had here, I wouldn’t trade anything in the world to have them around again, that’s how close everybody was,” head coach Jon Cooper said. “We’ve had such a great core here that’s kind of set the standard for all these guys to come in, but that’s OK. It’s OK to have a little bit of change.

“There is a rejuvenating piece to this of new teammates, new friendships and a new common goal of let’s do this together, especially for the guys who haven’t had that opportunity to raise the Stanley Cup. There’s a lot of fun in that.”

Among the newcomers are two surprises: Merela, an international free agent playing his first season in North America, and veteran forward Austin Watson, who arrived at training camp on a personal tryout.

Defenseman Zach Bogosian and center Gabriel Fortier cleared waivers and can be assigned to AHL Syracuse. Forward Alex Barre-Boulet was absent from practice, but was still on the Lightning’s first roster released Monday evening.

“For some guys it works out on opening night, for some guys it does not,” Cooper said. “I think the big message is, who’s here right now are not going to be the only people playing for us, and you never go through the season without injuries. Something’s going to happen. ...

“For the guys who are here, they’re happy, but my thing with them is do not get content, because the second that happens your spot might not be there any more.”

Merela and Watson didn’t receive any guarantees entering camp.

The Lightning thought highly of Merela, 25, who was coming off back-to-back championships in Finland’s top pro league, and signed him to a two-way deal. He had been slated for AHL Syracuse, where he could adjust to the smaller rink and quicker pace of the NHL game. But he got better every day during camp, and his tenacity with and without the puck showed the Lightning he is ready for the NHL.

“Every day it’s kind of tough mentally, a lot of new stuff all the time, a different language and stuff like that,” Merela said. “When you come here, you need to be ready to learn and just be yourself ... and just figure out the little stuff that’s different here. ...

“At the start of those first practices, I really didn’t understand what we were doing. At least now, I know a little bit. I started off at the back of the line sometimes, because I didn’t know what we were doing. But I understand now how the game should work.”

Watson, a 10th-year veteran with 482 games of NHL experience, was a quick fit on and off the ice. He adds a physical presence and can fill an enforcer role the Lightning has been missing since trading Pat Maroon in July. In three preseason games, Watson showed he will stand up for teammates, getting into two fights with Florida’s Casey Fitzgerald and logging 22 penalty minutes.

The Lightning on Monday signed Watson to a one-year, $776,665 contract.

“I’m definitely proud of the way I came in here,” he said. “It was new. I’ve probably been a regular for seven, eight years now on three-year contracts, so a PTO (professional tryout offer) was definitely a new experience for me.

“They’re nervy days. ... I’m definitely thrilled to put pen to paper and have it be official.”

Even though Vasilevskiy will miss the first two months recovering from back surgery, the Lightning have to carry him on their opening-night roster to gain salary-cap relief in his absence through the long-term injured reserve exemption.

There was plenty of behind-the-scenes paperwork to arrive at the opening roster. The one submitted to the league at 5 p.m. Monday actually did not include Merela — who at that point sat on AHL Syracuse’s roster — but after 5 p.m., he was added to the NHL roster. In order to clear space for Merela to play Tuesday, Barre-Boulet will be placed on waivers; if he clears, he will be assigned to Syracuse.

Then, on Wednesday, Vasilevskiy can be placed on long-term injured reserve, which will open a spot for Bogosian to return, giving the Lightning 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders moving forward.

According to PuckPedia, the Lightning came in just $2 under the cap after getting cap-hit relief for placing the contracts of defenseman Brent Seabrook ($6.875 million) and forward Logan Brown ($775,000) on long-term injured reserve.

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