Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

If you have been reading this blog over the past week, I posted a story on Tuesday about the ECHL's Trois-Rivieres Lions signing 37 year-old Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond away from his real estate practice thanks to a number of injuries and recalls affecting the Lions' roster. In the article, I expressed my confusion over the Lions making this move simply due to him being a warm body for an upcoming spell of four games in five nights that, quite literally, anyone younger and still playing hockey could have filled. The first game was on Wednesday as Trois-Rivieres hosted Maine, so I thought I'd peek in on how Letourneau-Leblond fared in his third ECHL game since 2017.

The game ended as a 4-3 overtime victory for Maine, but, to my surprise, Letourneau-Leblond didn't even dress for the game that night! There was no reason given by the Lions for Letourneau-Leblond not dressing, but I suspect it may have had something to do with Colin Bilek being returned from the AHL's Manitoba Moose and with James Phelan being available to play despite him being shown as being on the Commissioner's Exempt List.

For those wondering what the "Commissioner's Exempt List" is, it's for "players ineligible to play based on the ECHL Covid-19 and return to play protocols. Players on the exempt list could have tested positive, had close contact with someone who tested positive or are symptomatic and awaiting test results." Phelan was added to the list on Monday, but clearly was healthy enough to play on Wednesday against Maine when he suited up, took a penalty, and recorded one shot on net while being on the ice for a Maine even-strength goal.

Letourneau-Leblond didn't get a chance to knock some rust off his bones on Wednesday, so maybe Trois-Rivieres was keeping him fresh for a tough battle with first-place Newfoundland tonight. Playing a little more physical could take the wind out of the Growlers' sails, I suppose, but it appears that Letourneau-Leblond's plane ticket would go to someone else with the news yesterday shown below.

Officially, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond was a member of the Trois-Rivieres Lions for two days, dressing for no games. I'm not even certain he ever left his home in New York with how contracts can be sent to people digitally now, but he officially was a Lion for two days in 2022-23. As of Friday morning, he back to being a New York realtor.

I'll give Pierre-Luc Letourean-Leblond a lot of credit in that he played at much higher levels than I ever did, but it seems his signing on Tuesday was, in fact, nothing more than Trois-Rivieres needing a warm body. That's not to say that Letourneau-Leblond wouldn't or couldn't play well at the ECHL level at age 37, mind you, but it just seemed rather far-fetched that the Lions would seek a 37 year-old player who had seemingly retired from the sport following the 2019-20 season to help them this season.

In the end, it seems Letourneau-Leblond did help Trois-Rivieres out in a numbers game, but those numbers just weren't on a scoreboard.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!