The Tampa Bay Lightning have strengthened their roster by acquiring forward Lucas Mercuri from the Carolina Hurricanes. The deal sees the Lightning send a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft to Carolina in exchange for the young player.
Mercuri, fresh off his college season with the University of Massachusetts Minutemen, has also signed a two-year entry-level contract with Tampa Bay, set to begin in the 2025-26 season. He will join the Syracuse Crunch, the Lightning`s AHL affiliate, for the remainder of the current 2024-25 season on a tryout basis.
While Mercuri is ineligible to play for the Lightning in the ongoing season due to the trade occurring after the NHL trade deadline, he brings promising potential to the organization. In his final college season, the 23-year-old served as an alternate captain for UMass, scoring 10 goals and providing 21 assists in 40 games.
Over his four seasons at the University of Massachusetts, Mercuri accumulated a total of 28 goals and 57 assists. The Hurricanes originally drafted the LaSalle, Quebec native in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, with the 159th overall pick.
