Columbus Blue Jackets re-sign Dana Tyrell
By Cory Buck
The Columbus Blue Jackets have re-signed Dana Tyrell to a one year two-way contract for the 2014-15 NHL season, per the team’s website. Tyrell played most of the season for the Tampa Bay Lightning organization before being moved to Columbus at the March 5th trade deadline.
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To this point the 25 year old Tyrell has largely been a product of the AHL, having diminished as an NHLer each season he plays. He played 44 games last season for the Lightning’s AHL club, Syracuse, before playing another 19 games in Springfield, the minor league affiliate for the Blue Jackets. He tallied 33 points in that stretch. Tyrell also saw some time in the NHL with the Lightning. He was pointless in seven NHL games this past season.
Dana Tyrell is another player facing a make-or-break season. He’s been trending downward as an NHL prospect since the 2010-11 season, when he played in 78 NHL games with the Lightning. Tyrell tallied only 15 points in that time and he has yet to come close to that figure in following seasons. He appeared in 26 games in the 2011-12 season, then 21 games the following year (a lockout shortened 2012-13) before landing almost exclusively in the AHL last season.
Now on a Blue Jackets squad that has quickly built an impressive amount of depth and stability under GM Jarmo Keikalainen, Tyrell will have to grow strong and quickly assert himself on a team that finished roughly equal with his previous squad in Tampa. If he can’t do it this year, he may not do it at all.