Tampa Bay Lightning sign Gabriel Fortier to one-year deal
The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed Gabriel Fortier to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000. It is unknown at this time what his minor league salary is.
Fortier played the 2022-23 season with the Syracuse Crunch, the Lightning AHL affiliate. He scored 11 goals and 29 points in 67 games there as an important depth piece. He also played a game in the NHL for the Lightning. The 23-year-old winger has solidified his spot as a member of the Syracuse Crunch and will return there next year.
He has played 173 AHL games over four seasons, scoring 31 goals and 74 points in that span. He is not a star player, but chips in some offence every now and then.
Fortier was drafted by the Lightning in the second-round of the 2018 NHL Draft. They had high hopes for the Lachine, PQ native as he had just come off of a 26-goal, 59-point season for Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the QMJHL. He followed that up with an 83-point campaign the next year and got rewarded with a professional stint in the AHL with Syracuse.
He went back to major junior for the 2019-20 season, ultimately being traded to the Moncton Wildcats later that year. At 21 years old, Fortier made the full-time jump to the AHL, scoring six goals and 10 points in 30 games for the Crunch in 2020-21.
The 2021-22 season was the strongest of his career, where he scored 14 goals and 35 points in 72 games for the Crunch, and played 10 NHL games in Tampa, including one where he scored his first NHL goal.
Gabriel Fortier (@forts_9) buries it for his first NHL goal! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/FH6c3hzjKA
— NHL (@NHL) December 22, 2021In a player assessment from Wade Messier of DobberHockey he noted, “The last three seasons have seen Fortier get bounced around between the NHL and AHL…Fortier still has some value as a future bottom-six forward and could be a good defensive presence to have on the penalty kill.”