Observations:

February 2014 – The American Hockey League veteran goaltender has had an up and down season as his team struggles to adapt to life without several of it’s top players, who have been promoted to Tampa Bay. Desjardins has also lost playing time to 2013 draft pick Kristers Gudlevskis. Despite Gudlevskis seemingly taking over the crease in Syracuse, it was Cedrick Desjardins recalled to Tampa Bay and staying to backup Ben Bishop when Anders Lindback recently hurt his ankle. Desjardins is an unrestricted free agent this summer and with the emergence of Gudlevskis and the impending arrival of 2012 1st round pick Andrey Vasilevskiy from Russia, it’s doubtful Desjardins will be re-signed by Tampa Bay. Randall Buschmann

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July 2013 – Tampa Bay has re-signed Desjardins to a one year, two-way contract. When Tampa Bay acquired Desjardins from Montreal earlier in the season, they were hoping he’d provide stability as the organization’s number three goaltender. Desjardins had an impressive playoff run with AHL Syracuse Crunch He finished with a 13-5 record, 2.30 goals against average and .908 save percentage while leading the Crunch all the way to Calder Cup Final before losing to Grand Rapids. Desjardins remains third on Tampa Bay’s goaltending chart, he’ll be the first to receive a call up if there is an injury to Bishop or Lindback. Randy Buschmann

March 2013 – With a couple injuries in the past month Desjardins has received a pair of recalls. In his latest recall Tampa has tried him out, but his performances have been nothing special. In the AHL he has posted three shutouts and five wins in eight games since joining the Lightning organization. His future is in the Tampa Bay organization is rather murky, he and Garon are both un-restricted free agents at season’s end, Riku Helenius, Andrei Vasilevski, Adam Wilcox and Jaroslav Janus could make noise if the team wishes to fill the backup role with a true prospect. He will likely get a few more opportunities as Lindback may be out a couple more weeks, these starts could make or break Desjardins’ career. Jason Banks

February 2013 – The Canadiens traded Desjardins to Tampa Bay for fellow goalie prospect Dustin Tokarski. Desjardins will be a depth player with the Lightning, much as he was in Montreal. However, if given the opportunity, he could surprise but time is running out on his prospect status. Rich Dillon

December 2012 – Desjardins returned from injury in mid-November, and has continued his stellar ways. He has a three and one record, with a shutout in his latest game vs. Abbotsford. I was rather surprised that in his return to game action, he made several highlight reel saves early displaying his flexibility. Jason Banks

November 2012 – Was re-signed by Montreal in the off season coming back to the organization who gave him his first shot six years ago. Very quick, acrobatic, competitive and molds his game after Patrick Roy. His athletic ability makes up for his size, but it also causes him to be injured quite often with nagging muscle problems in the groin, legs and hip. Desjardins suffers from a good form of inconsistency, he will either steal games while being flashy or he will be rather quiet and just stable. He is known for getting on streaks of being unbeatable. He has been one of the best goalies in the AHL for several seasons, but has struggled to find opportunities or be healthy when opportunities arise. Currently he is assigned to Hamilton of the AHL, but has not played due to a leg injury (knee it is believed). If the NHL resumes this season, he will back up Carey Price as Montreal’s other options of Robert Mayer and Peter Delmas are extremely poor. Jason Banks

Fantasy Outlook: C+

He will be good in the games he plays, but ‘Band-Aid’ tendencies make him a very unreliable fantasy option at this point in his career.

Footage:

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