Tampa Bay Lightning 7th round pick in the 2011 draft (#207 overall) 2nd year center Matthew Peca(63) earns his first NHL recall after a good start to his sophomore season with AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch and a solid rookie showing, where he led all first year players in assists (35) and points (43).
The only downside was his -11 rating for a skater that plays bigger than his listed 5’8″ 178 frame.
In his big league debut he was on the ice 16 shifts for 13:03 with 1 shot on net, 2 hits and went 50% on the face off dot, which happened to be a 4-3 OT win.
He signed a two-year entry level deal after four seasons at Quinnipiac University, where he was always a 30+ point guy and in two campaigns had very close to 40.
The 23-year old is set to become a restricted free agent at the end of 2016/2017 but will likely be kept around for at least one more spin to see if he can ignite that scoring touch from the minors and college.