NHL, MEET MIKEY EYSSIMONT: THE LIGHTNING’S LATEST GEM NOBODY WANTS TO FACE

TAMPA BAY, FL – Tampa Bay Lightning GM Julien BriseBois often surveys his pro scouting department and analytics staff separately when assembling his NHL trade deadline targets.

During the midway point of last season, BriseBois sought upgrades to his bottom six.

“We were trying to find good forecheckers that had low cap hits,” BriseBois told The Hockey News.

One name that both Tampa Bay’s eye-test evaluators and number crunchers coveted was Mikey Eyssimont. He checked off every box. A virtual unknown before becoming an NHL regular at 26 last season, Eyssimont is a speedy winger who excelled on the forecheck, played with an edge and had a knack for getting under the skin of his opponents.