The Lightning called up C Cedric Paquette from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Friday and expect him to make his NHL debut in one of the final two games.
Paquette, a fourth-round draft pick in 2012, leads Syracuse with 20 goals in 70 games and ranks fourth among AHL rookies with 153 penalty minutes.
“He’s a hard-nosed, gritty player,’’ Yzerman said. “We wanted to bring Cedric as a guy who potentially, depending on what happens, may get into some games and we want to get a peek at them here and see how he does.
“He’s been pretty solid in Syracuse all year. He’s physical, and I think it’s a nice complement and he does a lot of the things that Ryan Callahan does that might be able to help us.’’