Lightning head coach Jon Cooper announced to reporters, including the team’s Benjamin Pierce, that defenseman Erik Černák has sustained an undisclosed injury and is out week-to-week. It’s not related to the lower-body issue that kept Černák out of a pair of games last week. Cooper also said that center Brayden Point won’t play tonight against the Flyers after leaving Saturday’s game against the Capitals with an undisclosed injury, but he’s day-to-day and shouldn’t miss more than a couple of games.
With Černák’s injury, the Bolts recalled defender Maxim Groshev from AHL Syracuse. They’ve had an open roster spot for the last few games, so no corresponding move is necessary.
Černák’s landing back on the injured list leaves Tampa without three of its top four defenders once again. Victor Hedman has already missed six games with an undisclosed issue and won’t be back in the lineup until Dec. 2 at the earliest. Ryan McDonagh has missed the same amount of time but could be back sooner since, unlike Hedman, he hasn’t been transferred to long-term injured reserve.
Despite the pileup, the Lightning have managed to win four times in that six-game stretch. They sit second in the Atlantic Division with a 12-7-2 record, one point back of the Red Wings with one game in hand. There are plenty of reasons for optimism, considering they managed to rebound from the 1-4-2 hole they put themselves in to start the year and have largely carried that momentum through a stretch of brutal luck. Unfortunately, their top right-shot option on the blue line in Černák won’t be a part of that run for the foreseeable future.
Černák continues to be arguably Tampa’s best pure shutdown option. After recording a career-high 21 points and a +29 rating in 76 appearances last season, he’d rattled off four assists and an even rating through 19 appearances in 2025-26. While the Bolts have been outscored 16-12 with Černák on the ice at 5-on-5 this year, on pace for the worst goal share of his career, he’s been the victim of some poor goaltending. His pairing with McDonagh has controlled 57.6% of expected goals together, per MoneyPuck. With McDonagh sidelined, Černák also elevated rookie Charle-Edouard D’Astous to a 53.8 xGF%.
Groshev, who was drafted as a winger but has since converted to defense, won’t be making his NHL debut in Černák’s absence, it appears. They were already rostering six healthy defenders, so Groshev will serve as injury insurance on the blue line, who can also step in at forward if needed. A third-round pick in 2020 out of Russia, the 6’2″ rearguard is in his third season with Syracuse but has yet to make his NHL debut. He’s managed six assists through 17 games this season and has a team-high +8 rating, leaving the Bolts intrigued by the 23-year-old’s defensive upside.
As for the weekend’s news that both Point and superstar Nikita Kucherov departed the Washington game with injuries, they’ve clearly avoided a worst-case scenario. Kucherov wasn’t carrying any injury designation at today’s practice, while Point, who’s struggled this year with just three goals and 11 points in 21 games and could’ve used a reset anyway, won’t have an extended absence.
Just realized that Groshev is now playing defense instead of forward, interesting.
This is becoming a game of musical chairs of sorts with this injury bug nagging on Tampa as it’s ridiculous really. The positive is Tampa’s depth has come up big in keeping them rolling since late October. This is the best depth they’ve had since their Cup runs. This type of adversity can make a team stronger in the long run especially if they’re primarily overcoming the adversity like Tampa has been doing overall. Also, the timing of injuries and returns seems to have worked in their favor if you could say, not that injuries are a positive by any means but that the returns happen as another injury happens hence for the musical chairs metaphor. This injury bug should pass in due time.
Cernak, Hedman and even McDonough have not been victimized by bad goaltending. Just the opposite, they have been handing out pizzas and a lot of grade A chances.
Cernak/McDonagh rank 35th out of 194 D pairings with at least 50 minutes this season in xGA/60. Not quite elite so far, but certainly well above average defensively.
Last year, they were top shut down pair. The reality is together, they are too slow and struggle to regain pucks and move out of the zone. They are another year older. Don’t get me wrong, I love them on my team, but as far as moving up and down 5 on 5, I like having a Moser, Dastous, Crozier type who can skate and move the puck.
I have not missed Hedman at all. The younger guys are quicker and make quicker decisions, which is Hedman’s achilles heal. The modern NHL has zero time and space.