The Syracuse Crunch kept their leadership team intact by bringing back two franchise icons on one-year contracts. On Tuesday, they announced that they had signed both captain Gabriel Dumont and the franchise leader in games played, Daniel Walcott, to one-year, AHL contracts. As AHL deals, they do not count against the NHL salary cap for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Bolts would have to sign them to a NHL contract in order to call them up to the team.
While both players may not factor in the plans for the Lightning next season, the fact that they are coming back for another year is huge for the Crunch. On a team that will likely have a little bit of roster churn, the duo creates a sense of stability for the players as well as Joel Bouchard and his coaching staff. Not only will they be there to mentor the younger players on and off the ice, they will also provide some solid play.
In the third season of his second stint with the Crunch, Dumont put up 14 goals and 14 assists in 47 games before his season was cut short by ACL surgery in March. Walcott, who has worn a Crunch uniform for 433 of his 434 career AHL games, scored a career-high 14 goals and added another 10 assists. He had another goal and two assists in the postseason. The 433 games played is the Crunch’s all-time record and the 30-year-old was also awarded the league’s Yanick Dupre Memorial Award for his contributions to the Syracuse community as well as charitable organizations.
At 33-years-old, it wasn’t a given that Dumont’s career would continue after he suffered the knee injury on March 6th against Laval, but it looks like the team’s captain will give it another go. Perhaps he received some advice from Mitchell Chaffee, who bounced back from a similar injury to rejuvenate his career last season. The recovery period for ACL surgery varies based on the severity, but it isn’t unreasonable he could be ready somewhere near the beginning of the season.
Prior to Dumont’s injury the Crunch were 32-17-5 (unlike the AHL, shootout and overtime losses are combined), following his removal from the line-up, they went 7-7-4 over their last 18 games. It’s also unlikely that they trade Joe Carroll for Jordy Bellerive at the deadline if Dumont isn’t injured. There were other factors involved in the Crunch’s fade at the end of the season, but losing their on-ice leader was a big blow.
With both players back (at some point) there is some continuity for the franchise, which should play a big factor in the Crunch having another solid season in the competitive AHL North.
