Tampa Bay Lightning 2025-26 NHL Season Preview
Hello everybody and welcome into another season preview show here at the Hockey Raiders YouTube channel. I’m your host Matthew Zatour and uh we’re up to the Tampa Bay Lightning here and I’ve got Harrison who covers the Lightning here at the site. I believe you did our season preview last year as well. Um I’m pretty sure different writers sometimes every season, but how’s it going? You know, it’s good it’s good to be here again. I’m excited for another season of hockey, another year of covering the lightning here with the hockey writers and can’t get here fast enough. I’ll say that off seasonason’s been painfully slow this seems. It’s been really bad. I mean, like you have it where it’s like the first week of July, especially the first day of July, it’s just an absolute storm and then it’s just crickets. Yeah. Something happens. Yeah. and it’s not been much lately. So, uh we’re we’re hoping for training camp to come really quickly and preseason and all that fun stuff. But, uh the Lightning, you know, the off season they didn’t do a lot. It was a couple little signings here and there. So, I mean, the forward group got the most I would say maybe the most additions even though it’s only a couple. Uh that was uh Pontis Sullenberg coming in from the Toronto Maple Leafs and they got Jacob Pelchce who played for the Flyers uh last season and he’s been with the Flames as well. Uh what do you think about these two new additions uh to the forward group? Very lightning signings really because these two guys, you don’t know what’s going to happen. They probably will be good. So yeah, the best way to describe it is, and when I wrote about them back in July, I described them as almost like lowrisk, higher reward type guys. They intentionally by design are not making any splashes per se this off season. You know, they made some big moves last season. They trade out and uh got rid of Tanner Jano. This time around, they’re just making smaller signings. A lot of two-way contracts. These are the guys who stand out the most. Pelchce, a former first round pick. Um, Homebergs had showed some flashes toward the end of the season with the Leafs last year. So, the idea definitely is let’s see how the Lightning can um fill out that bottom six a little more, go with some lower risk, small cap hit guys and see how they pan out. Mhm. I mean that they’ve had that uh success in the past with doing that, not just with signings, but with of course the late round draft picks and uh guys like that. So I mean these guys could surprise. You never know. And they’ve had show like you say Pelchce is a a first round pick. Homeberg has been Yeah. Like been pretty good with the Maple Leafs. Some fans of the Maple Leafs say that they gave up on him too soon and maybe they’re they made a mistake. So, I mean, we’ll see. They they actually he actually could be a pretty good guy for the Lightning uh this season and maybe beyond that, too. All right. Uh looking at the rest of the forward uh group, of course, returning a lot of the main guys, the stars, uh Cutrov uh still there, being the dominant guy he is, and uh you know, Brain Hegel and all those uh top end guys, Braden Point. What do you think about the forward group? Are you still confident in it going into this season? What do you got for storylines? I think in the end the biggest storyline is still going to remain even with some of the smaller additions, even with the star talent they still have. Just how’s it going to look? You know, I I there’s no doubt this is going to be a team that’s going to contend to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, but have they built up enough depth on the forward line where they can compete with whoever they go up against in the first round? It’s not just the Panthers. They struggled with the Leafs two years ago as well. Mhm. And it’s just is the depth there and can they take that next step that allows them to once again go on a deep playoff run? I think that’s at this point the biggest question with the team. I don’t think there’s any concerns with like Vasilk’s health at this point, which I’m sure we’ll get to in a little bit as well. I beyond that that’s be the top question besides how can what can these new guys contribute? Mhm. Yeah. I mean, you know what you’re getting from the top end guys. Jake Gensel going into his second season uh with the Lightning as well, and he had a really good first season. So, I mean, I don’t think anyone’s regretting this the contract that he signed. Uh he’s still going to be good as well. But yeah, very the top end guys are there, but yeah, it’s the depth and it’s those guys that um they’re going to need and they’ve had that in the past where the depth has come through and they’re just going to have to have to do that again because to go up against the Panthers, those elite teams, you need the depth. That’s why they’ve won two cups and and that’s why the Lightning won two cups was because of that depth as well. So, got to get back to that. All right, moving uh to the back end which uh again there’s no changes. I mean, you’re gonna have some guys that you’ll probably mention that are coming in that maybe Lightning fans don’t know about as much. Of course, you’ve got the Victor, you got Victor Hedman still leading the blue line. What do you think about the defense going into this season? Um, I think it’s more just the story lines like who’s going to take over for Nick Pervix. He’s now over in Nashville. He’s joined Steven Stamos out there. Uh, one guy I think we should all keep an eye on is Max Croer. Uh we like in the Lightning hockey Raiders room have been watching him for a little bit. He’s had his appearances here and there. He played about a dozen games two years ago. He comes back and plays five. My bold prediction was he was going to play 60 games, but also last year I said he’d take a step forward and then he played fewer games. So I think this time around there’s a gap to fill. We could see more of him. I think a big storyline could be how is JJ Moer going to look when he is fully healthy for a full season. That first half looked really good. He still looked good when he came back, but his offensive production kind of suffered a little bit once he got back. So, I think a big storyline on the defense is going to be how does he look if he can stay healthy for a full season. Yeah, especially he was the return in the Sergeev trade. So, and Sergeev had a I mean, he’s the leader in Utah now. So, it’s Yeah, Moer is going to I mean, he’s still got a ton of potential. He’s still relatively young. So, I mean, I think this second season, especially if he’s healthy all season, he’ll show the why they got him in the first place. So, um defense is still pretty good. You mentioned Nick Pervix. I think that’s a big deal. Uh he had a really good uh season last played with Victor Hedman, I think, at times as well. So, you’re looking at, yeah, Croer could be a guy that could maybe step in for him, but that’s actually a bigger hole than I think some people may be, you know, looking at right now. Um, Pervix was a guy that they tried to get back, I believe, but, you know, obviously didn’t. And he’s back. He’s in Nashville now. So, that’s going to be an interesting storyline to watch to see who. All right, let’s move to the goalending. You mentioned Andre Vasileleski. He’s uh, of course, the starter still. Jonas Johansson still the backup. So the tandem hasn’t changed. I are you still What about the What do you think about the goalending going in? Yeah. So I think the big thing for Vaselki is he’s coming in fully healthy this time. I know he was healthy last season, but you know, first few games you tell he was still shaking some of the rust off. And then you get to about New Year’s and you really start to see vintage Andre Vasileleski the rest of the way. Had like a 928 save percentage. He had four shutouts heading into the 2025 half of the season. Still showed some struggles in the playoffs compared to years past, but we saw more of what we’ve come we’ve become accustomed to. And there’s a reason why he finished second in the VZNA voting. Everyone just had the thought of, “Hey guys, he’s back.” Yeah. And as for Johansson, his uh I believe he was extended. That was and he’s coming back and it was a bit of a polarizing decision at least in the fan base’s perspective. You know, some people are just, you know, want to see a higher quality backup come in. Some people remember the days of when Louis Deming was behind Vazzy and well of course a lot of us remember when Vazzy was the backup to Ben Bishop. It doesn’t get better than that. But I think in the end you have to look at it this way like when you’re paying someone well over 9 million in cap space a year something has to be sacrificed somewhere and sometimes it’s going to be the backup. You also have it where Johansson is still a serviceable backup, especially when you’re going to need a guy in more in the first half of the season to keep Vaselki healthy and then start to use him a little bit more as the season uh gets going. And you figure he has a low cap hit. He is for a backup is someone who can get the job done. And I think it was smart for the Lightning to bring him back for at least another year or two. Yeah, I mean he was really good at the be where of course he had to be the starter when Basilleski couldn’t start this season there. Uh and he was actually pretty good. So I mean it’s not like but of course he’s not a starter. He’s best as a backup. I I think he’s still a good guy to have in behind him. It’s just Vasel is still going to have most of the starts. Um he’s just gonna have to step in and be be pretty good whenever he gets in. Right. Yeah. And a lot of people forget Johansson had backto-back shutouts when he was covering for Bazzy for those 20 games. Like he can he can step up in the moment. It’s just sometimes he’s going to have more, you know, three or four goals allowed compared to the starter. Yeah. I mean, it’s just got I mean that’s just going to have you’re just gonna have to accept that, right? So, all right. Uh let’s look at the division. Uh, the Atlantic division is it’s it’s I always say it’s an interesting one because you’re looking at these teams that you’re every year you say, “Okay, is this then the Sabres finally put it all together and make the playoffs and then they’re in that Ottawa did it last season, Montreal did it last season?” I are the Lightning still in that upper tier or are they kind of falling into that middle section now? So, the best way to describe it is they’re in the upper tier, hovering right above the middle because they’re still very much a contender in this division. Like, and I do think they’ll make the playoffs as well, but even as certain teams like Boston start to regress, fall towards the bottom of the stands, like you mentioned, you have other teams who are on the rise. Montreal and that young core really took a step up. They had a Calder Trophy winner last year. They have a Calder Trophy contender coming in this year. Uh Ottawa, like you mentioned, took that big step forward. They’ve made the playoffs. The the Panthers brought everyone back. Basically, there was that that debate, you know, who’s going to stay, who’s going to go. The answer was just yes. Uh they’re staying. And I don’t see why Toronto would be any less of an issue than they were last season. They gave the Lightning a hard time last year. They’ll do it again this year. Uh Detroit got a goalie in John Gibson from Anaheim and last year goalending was their biggest issue and they still only missed the playoffs by about five points. So you never know. You have maybe six teams at most who could be competing for the top three spots in the division as opposed to I guess four or five. It’s it’s still getting tougher. Yeah, it’s true. I mean and that’s why what we I love about the Atlantic division. Same thing. I I like that there some of the teams are starting to become more competitive because you you like the jockeying for position towards the end. You don’t like where it’s everyone’s just pulled ahead of a bunch of teams and it’s not fun hockey to watch when no one’s uh competitive. So, it’s nice. I I like that. I like it when all these teams are are competing. So, um and Lightning going to be right in there. They just have too much talent not to be. So, um be interesting to see. All right, let’s go to our quickfire round and uh these are all just quick one or two sentence answers. So, the biggest one or the first one uh biggest storyline uh going into this season, I think it’s just again we’ll go back to can the Lightning get past the first round? This is a team that at this point after three straight finals appearances, back-to-back Stanley Cups. I know it’s been a few years now since those happened, but they’re still relatively recent. And the mindset there is, all right, is it April? It’s playoff time. What’s gonna happen? So any storyline involves what happens in the second season as opposed to the regular season. Yeah, there’s a lot of teams in that boat. It’s like, let’s just fast forward because we don’t care. We know they’re going to make the playoffs. It’s uh what they do when they get there. And there’s just 82 games you got to go through to find out. Yeah, the 82 game prologue. Yes, that’s right. Oh, it’s gonna be 84 next season. Fair enough. I’ll give you pages before we get to the first chapter. Yeah. All right. I What do you got for breakout stars uh this season? Like you mentioned, a couple guys that are going to come in uh some younger guys. Who do you see breaking out? So, not much of a bold pick, but I’m going to go with Connor Geeki. He was another name that came in with the Cirachev trade last uh yeah last off season. Want to make sure I had that correct in my head. And you know he showed some flashes last year but in the end you know he was young. He went back to the AHL for a little bit continue to work on his craft and I think next year I don’t know if he’ll absolutely explode but I definitely think he’ll take a nice step forward and become part of the middle six. Yeah. and he’s got a lot of potential and he he looks pretty good in in his time that he was in the NHL. It’s Yeah, I think he’ll he might get a bigger I don’t know if a bigger role, but we’ll see. I mean, like you mentioned that bottom six and the depth he could be part of it. Um and we’ll see if he can do that. Right. The other side of it, uh guys that need to bounce back. Who needs to bounce back from last season? So this is more of a bounceback, not necessarily from performance because he did play well last year when he was acquired in the trade at the deadline. It’s more bouncing back from a health perspective with Oliver Borstrand. You know, had that rare ailment that caused him issues and caused him to miss the playoff time last year. He didn’t play at all in the playoffs. So, it’ll just be interesting to see, you know, how he comes back. I’m sure he’s very hungry to show that he’s healthy and ready to roll and he’s can he be someone who gives the Lightning 35 to 50 points in a season on the score? I think he would be the top player to watch. Yeah, he didn’t get a lot of time after that trade to show anything. So, I Yeah, and he’s shown it in the past of being a pretty good maybe a middle six guy to kind of be there. He can play in the top six. He has in the past as well. So, uh, we’ll see where he goes. All right. Uh, potential X factors. This could be players. This could be situation. Um, but anywhere you want to go with that. I’m going to go with another young guy. I’m going to go with Gage Gonzalez just because he had a nice step forward this last season as well. He had about 20 points in 60 games. I think he’s someone who could become, let’s say, a 20 goal scorer, give him about 40 points in a season and become one of those clutch depth guys that the Lightning used to have on the bottom six. And he doesn’t even, and again, not clutch as he’s going to give you some insane run in the playoffs, but you know, a goal here and there that makes a difference. And I think he can be that guy, at least in the immediate. Mhm. Yeah, there’s another guy falls in those that category of low what what did you say it was low risk but potentially high reward type guy. Um so I mean he could definitely be that too. All right. Uh the lightning don’t have a ton of prospects and guys that maybe maybe don’t fall in this cy you might have one. I who do you see maybe surprising you know don’t have on your radar right now that could potentially make the team. So, someone that I’m going to go with, and it’s not necessarily a surprise if he makes it this year on the staff, but I think if he broke camp with the team, it would be more of a surprise. I’m going to go with Jack Finley. He’s the rookie showcase representative for the team. And, you know, he had a he’s had some solid years in the AHL. And what’s something that I think will really help him out is that he’s a big dude. He is almost the size of Victor Hedman as a forward. I think it’d be great to see him go into the top six and I think that will stand out for the Lightning enough that they give him a chance early. And I don’t want to necessarily misrepresent him as maybe someone who’s an agitator or some big physical guy because that’s not really his skill set, but someone who’s bigger can, you know, take a hit against those guys and really just help stand tall and keep a play alive. Yeah. Another guy can fit into a bottom six role, too. So, I he’ll have an opportunity uh in training camp, but yeah, I could see him even if he doesn’t break camp, he I think he’ll might get some some time in the NHL at some point um for sure. All right, other prospects. Now, I would throw Isaac Howard here, but of course, he’s not with the team anymore. He was traded to the Oilers, but they did get someone in return for him, and that was Sam O’Reilly. Um so, he could be one to watch. Who do you have for prospects to watch this season? So, I did actually have Sam O’Reilly in there strictly because not because I don’t think he can be a good player. He has high potential. He was a first round pick, but because he’s permanently part of that Isaac Howard storyline, a huge part of offseason chatter. So, just by default, it’s someone who’s you got to keep your eye on. Another guy I had there is Dylan Duke. He played a couple of games for the Lightning last season. He scored his first career goal. That’s his only time he’s gotten on the score sheet to date. But he also had some flashes as well in the preseason last year. I’ve been high on him personally for a couple of years. He looked really good back when he was at Michigan. And I think he’s I don’t know if he’ll break camp right away either, but I think he’s someone who by the end of the season will be a normal contributor, someone who’s dressing for every game. Yeah. And a guy to watch in Syracuse, too. So, yeah, Dylan Duke has always been one of my favorite prospects as well. And it looks like, of course, the Lightning draft him because they always draft they draft a lot of guys that I like. I like Isaac Howard, too. I I was really excited to see him with the Lightning, but of course, things happened and had to be traded. Um, but yeah, I think I think he’s definitely a guy uh to watch either in the NHL or in the AHL. Okay, this one might be actually probably will be an easy one. Uh, who’s leading the team in for scoring? Some teams are easy. Like this is a Yeah, easy. Who it is? Um, forwards and defense. Clearly the answer is Boris Ketchup. No, I’m kidding. It’s uh, give me 130 points. I know you’re not asking for a prediction, but that’s a number I can totally see. On defense, it’s got to be Victor Hedman. He’s been the consistent guy each year. I wouldn’t be surprised if he puts up another 70 point season. Last season really bounce back offensively from a down year. I think what we saw last year is going to be the norm again going forward compared to the year before that. Yeah, like I say, there’s some teams that you have to think a bit. I was like maybe it’s between two or three guys, but no, it’s Coutro, it’s Headman, Braden Point. I I could see he but I don’t think he usurps Cutrov. He can put up 100 points, but I it’s it’s Craving the team in goals while Cutrov assists, you know, 25 of them, you know, and then to the leads the team in points. I can see that. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think so. I think that definitely. Okay, let’s finish the show with the bold predictions or hot take, whatever you want to go with that or both. What do you got again? Is it that bold? I don’t know, but I’m gonna go for it anyway. Give me Andre Vaselki winning his second career Vzna trophy. I think he comes out of the gate a little bit quicker. I think Halabuk doesn’t have that insane start that basically locked it in by November, December of last year. I think the return continues. Book it by the Stanley Cup final. We’re all waiting to hear that the winner is Andre Vaselki. I mean, he’s done it before. It’s been a while since he’s got the VZNA, but there’s injuries in there and but he’s always in the conversation when he’s on his game. So, yeah, may not be that bold, but it is because he hasn’t won in a while. So, yeah, we’ll see. I I think he he definitely will be in that conversation. Lots of great goalies out there. Okay. Well, thanks Harrison uh for coming on talking the Lightning as we get into closer and closer to the regular season starting. We’re almost at training camp. We’re almost at the preseason finally. We’re going to start talking about some hockey uh actually happening, not just previewing things. Kind of gets uh tiresome a bit. We’re thinking about previews, but uh we’ll get that soon. But thanks for coming on. Absolutely. Thank you again, Matthew. All right. Well, make sure you’re checking out everything at the hockey.com. We got season preview stuff, lots of stuff on the site right now. Of course, the Substack has keep you up to date with anything that’s going on at the Hockey Raiders, uh, with any of the teams you signed up for. Um, yeah, and all the stuff on our YouTube channel if you want to take out take a look at any other previews we’ve got out there. But until our next one, we will see you next time.
Host Matthew Zator welcomes Tampa Bay Lightning writer Harrison Smajovits to the show to preview the upcoming 2025-26 NHL season.
They go through everything from the new additions to burning questions/storylines surrounding the forwards, defense and goaltending and where the Lightning stack up in the Atlantic Division. They also highlight some potential breakout stars, players that need to bounce back from last season, prospects to watch, X factors, bold predictions, and more.
Follow Harrison’s work – https://thehockeywriters.com/author/hsmajovits/
And the rest of the Lightning writers at THW as they preview the season in written form – https://thehockeywriters.com/tag/lightning-season-preview/
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