Former Ottawa Senators‘ 1st round pick in the 2005 draft (#9 overall), 6th year defenseman Brian Lee(25) was a 2012 trade deadline acquisition of Tampa Bay Lightning.
He played the rest of the regular season with the Lightning recording no goals but his 8 assists set a new career high mark for helpers (15) and points (16).
Not exactly ice shattering marks for such a high draft selection that was pegged to have an offensive upside.
The 6’3″ 205 lbs. blue liner is signed through next season on a one-way contract but was recently reassigned to their minor league affiliate Syracuse Crunch, when he was failing to put up the numbers in the lockout shortened campaign and the parent club wanted to have some longer looks at younger players in the system.
In 10 AHL games, his first appearance in the league in a few years, he had only one assist through the remainder of the regular season. In 3 Calder Cup Playoff games he has yet to put up any points but at the very least maintains a +2 rating.
The recently turned 26-year old may not be a shoe-in for a roster spot to start 2013/2014.
He’s played in 209 NHL games and will need to have a breakout year or might have a tough time finding future deal in the show.
No doubt, with his size, he has to keep a good attitude in place and put a lot more backbone into his game.
