Lightning Reassign Dominic James

According to a team announcement, the Tampa Bay Lightning have assigned forward Dominic James to the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL.

James, 24, is in his second year playing for the Lightning organization. The Chicago Blackhawks originally selected him with the 173rd overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, but James failed to agree to a contract with the Original Six franchise before becoming a collegiate free agent. He spent his collegiate tenure at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

The Plymouth, MI, native spent much of last season with the Bolts, scoring seven goals and 15 points in 43 games with a +4 rating, averaging 12:14 of ice time per game. He also blocked 13 shots, delivered 58 hits, and won 50.4% of his faceoffs, giving Tampa Bay a solid blend of speed, physicality, and faceoff acumen in their bottom-six.

Unfortunately, his 2026-27 campaign was delayed. James broke his hand during offseason training, landing him on the Lightning’s injured reserve to begin the season. Eventually, Tampa Bay activated him in early October and assigned him to AHL Syracuse for a pseudo-training camp. Since his mid-October recall, James has tallied two assists in six games with a +1 rating.

There could be a few reasons for James’ demotion. First, forward Yanni Gourde is well ahead of schedule in his recovery from offseason hip surgery. Gourde’s initial recovery timeline projected an early December return, although recent reports indicate he’ll return much earlier.

Second, Tampa Bay may just want a different option. James and Conor Geekie are the only waiver-exempt forwards on Tampa Bay’s active roster. Because of that, those two will always be the first candidates for demotion if the Lightning want to make a change. Assuming they will replace James with another forward and it isn’t Gourde, Jakob Pelletier, Nicholas Abruzzese, and Lucas Mercuri are all having strong starts to the year in the AHL.