Lightning Recall Simon Lundmark
The Lightning recalled defenseman Simon Lundmark from AHL Syracuse, per a team press release. He takes the roster spot of Maxim Groshev, who was sent down to Syracuse on Monday.
Lundmark, 25, had been a frequent presence in the Jets’ farm system before being non-tendered last summer and signing a two-year, two-way contract with Tampa Bay. From 2021-25, he made 254 appearances for AHL Manitoba with 16 goals, 46 assists, 62 points (0.24 per game), 82 penalty minutes, and a -38 rating. Drafted as a relatively strong two-way prospect, he was a second-rounder in 2019 but didn’t show enough in a poor development environment in Winnipeg to ever get an NHL chance.
The move to the Bolts organization hasn’t changed his fortunes yet. He’s suited up 27 times for Syracuse with only five assists and a -1 rating. He was recalled once in November as an emergency injury replacement option, but didn’t get into a game.
The 6’2″ righty now gets another shot to serve as a press-box option for Tampa as they rotate their minor-league depth in and out of healthy extra duty. With Victor Hedman, Emil Martinsen Lilleberg, and Ryan McDonagh all still out for several games, that practice will continue for a while.
Lightning Reassign Maxim Groshev
Earlier today, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that Maxim Groshev has been re-assigned to AHL Syracuse.
The defenseman has bounced between the AHL and NHL throughout the season, last being called up one week ago. In his latest stint, the 24-year-old made his eagerly awaited NHL debut, recording an assist on 13:03 of ice time. Even with Groshev out of the mix for now, along with Ryan McDonagh, Emil Martinsen Lilleberg, and Victor Hedman all injured, the team has six active defenders ahead of tomorrow’s game against Colorado. The news may indicate that McDonagh is due to return sometime later in the week.
Groshev working his way into an NHL lineup last Saturday and making an impact is particularly impressive, as the Russian was drafted in the third round back in 2020 as a forward. Unable to make enough of an impact offensively in North America, he dropped back to defense, rarely seen in a level as high as the AHL. Since then, Groshev has made strides, leading Crunch blueliners in scoring with 12 points in 27 games.
A restricted free agent at season’s end, Groshev faces an especially tough challenge to solidify himself as a full-time NHLer, given his unlikely path, and figures to be no more than a depth option at this point. However, through it all, he’s managed to earn the trust of the Bolts when needed, who continue to win despite recent injury adversity, and make his mark at the highest level.
After tomorrow’s home tilt against the Avs, the Lightning embark on a road trip to start the next week. Barring additional injuries, Groshev could be set to settle in Syracuse for the remainder of 2026 and help the top team make a push in their North Division.
Lightning Sign Charle-Edouard D’Astous To One-Year Extension
The Lightning announced they’ve signed defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous to a one-year extension worth $875K. He was due to be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
While the 27-year-old D’Astous is too old for Calder Trophy consideration, the Quebec native has quietly been one of the league’s most impressive rookies. The former ECHL Defenseman of the Year had spent the last three seasons in Europe, racking up back-to-back top defenseman honors in Finland’s and Sweden’s top leagues, before landing his first NHL contract – a two-way deal with the Bolts signed in May.
D’Astous did not make Tampa’s opening night roster. In fact, he was a relatively early cut from training camp on Sep. 28. He posted three points and a +3 rating in four games for AHL Syracuse before the Lightning recalled him just two weeks into the season in the wake of an injury to Maxwell Crozier.
The 6’2″ lefty was scratched once before making his debut, kicking off a run of 33 consecutive appearances to begin his NHL career. While injuries to Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh have been the primary factor keeping him in the lineup, he’s done his best in the meantime to ensure he has a legitimate shot of remaining in the lineup when Tampa’s defense returns to full health. With a 3-10–13 scoring line, he’s third among Bolts defenders in scoring and 10th on the team overall while averaging a hearty 19:05 per game out of the gate, quarterbacking Tampa’s second power-play unit in Hedman’s stead.
D’Astous’ defensive deficiencies were historically the biggest obstacle between him and an NHL contract despite his long track record of elite offensive production in the minors, juniors, and in Europe. Those haven’t disappeared. The Lightning allow 3.4 goals against per 60 minutes with D’Astous on the ice at even strength, the worst figure on the team.
Nonetheless, he’s proven himself a valuable depth option, providing legitimate offensive value from the blue line as Tampa has dealt with multiple key injuries. He was one of only five pending UFAs on the Lightning’s roster, a list that’s now limited to Oliver Bjorkstrand, Darren Raddysh, Declan Carlile (Group VI), and Curtis Douglas (Group VI).
Lightning Activate Erik Cernak From LTIR
The Lightning have activated defenseman Erik Černák from long-term injured reserve, Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports.
Černák will dress on Wednesday against the Ducks for the first time since sustaining a hand injury against the Capitals on Nov. 22. Tampa Bay has ample space in its LTIR pool and opened a roster spot yesterday by placing Scott Sabourin on IR, so no corresponding transaction is necessary.
The importance of the shutdown righty’s return can’t be overstated for a decimated Bolts defense that’s still missing three other regulars in Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, and Emil Martinsen Lilleberg. Hedman will be out for another month with his elbow injury, while McDonagh’s timeline remains fuzzy after re-aggravating the undisclosed injury that already knocked him out of an 18-game stretch earlier in the year.
Before exiting the lineup, Černák had recorded four assists in an even rating in 19 games. His 19:19 average time on ice is tracking for the second-highest of his career, and he leads Bolts defensemen in both blocks (2.26) and hits (2.11) per game.
Černák’s possession impacts this season have been something of a mixed bag. He’s posted the worst shot attempt share (44.2%) of any Bolts skater at even strength, but he’s also received the most difficult deployment, starting 59.8% of his shifts in the defensive zone.
The 28-year-old’s return to action is also crucial ahead of February’s Winter Olympics, where he and the Devils’ Simon Nemec will anchor Slovakia’s defense on the right side. Now in his eighth season, he’s entered the top five in franchise history among defensemen in games played (460) and rating (+93).
Lightning Place Scott Sabourin On Injured Reserve
The Tampa Bay Lightning will be down at least one forward for their upcoming road trip through the Pacific Division. According to Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times, the Lightning have placed Scott Sabourin on the team’s injured reserve.
It’s not difficult to assess what Sabourin’s injury stems from. One day after accruing 26 PIMs and a fine against the Florida Panthers, Sabourin took on Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj in a heavyweight tilt.
Xhekaj ultimately won the exchange handily, which assuredly caused Sabourin’s placement on the IR today. It appears that Xhekaj knew Sabourin was injured mere moments after the fight concluded, as video shows him and the linesman urgently calling the Lightning’s medical staff to attend to Sabourin.
Unfortunately, it’s the price of doing business for how Sabourin plays the game. Although the ‘enforcer’ class is slowly dying off in the modern game, Sabourin has respectably carved out a career path as a tough guy. This season with Tampa Bay, he’s already racked up 63 PIMs in just nine contests.
Since he isn’t relied upon to help put pucks in the net, though he does have three points on the year, the Lightning’s lineup won’t need too much shifting around ahead of their upcoming road trip. Sabourin was typically found on the team’s fourth line, so the team could easily replace him with fellow enforcer Curtis Douglas, who was a healthy scratch in the contest against the Canadiens.
Lightning Sign J.J. Moser To Eight-Year Extension
Dec. 28th: PuckPedia provided the yearly breakdown of Moser’s new extension:
- 2026-27: $881K salary, $7.9MM signing bonus
- 2027-28: $1.381MM salary, $7.4MM signing bonus, full no-trade clause
- 2028-29: $8.777MM salary, full no-trade clause
- 2029-30: $6.584MM salary, full no-trade clause
- 2030-31: $5.27MM salary, 16-team no-trade clause
- 2031-32: $4.269MM salary, $1MM signing bonus, 16-team no-trade clause
- 2032-33: $4.269MM salary, $1MM signing bonus, 16-team no-trade clause
- 2033-34: $4.269MM salary, $1MM signing bonus, 16-team no-trade clause
Dec. 27th: The Tampa Bay Lightning have locked in one of their best defensemen from this season. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Lightning are closing in on an eight-year, $54MM ($6.75MM AAV) extension with J.J. Moser. Tampa Bay confirmed the extension a few moments later.
Moser, 25, is in his second year with Tampa Bay after being one of the pieces brought back in the trade that sent defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to Salt Lake City two summers ago. He was headed toward restricted free agency after this season, with arbitration rights, but will now wait until after the 2033-34 season to sign his next deal.
The Biel, Switzerland native has gotten much more attention this year, largely due to the number of injuries the Lightning have dealt with on their blue line. He’s scored three goals and 12 points in 34 games, equating to the second-best performance of his career on an 82-game basis.
Still, despite his boxcar stats being somewhat mediocre, they don’t come close to painting the whole picture regarding Moser’s value.
His even-strength metrics are some of the best in the league and are in most categories. He’s managed a 57.8% CorsiFor% and 94.6% on-ice save percentage throughout the year, both of which are first on the team among defensemen by a significant margin.
Additionally, according to MoneyPuck, out of the 218 defensemen that have played over 200 minutes this season, Moser is first in the league in on-ice Goals% with a 73.8% mark. Cale Makar, who is again the favorite for the Norris Trophy, is in second place with a 72.7% output.
That level of performance made an extension a priority for General Manager Julien BriseBois in Tampa Bay. Moving forward with Moser locked in, the Lightning have the combination of Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh signed through the 2028-29 season, and Erik Černák locked in through the 2030-31 campaign.
If Moser can continue his current level of productivity, even if only for the next few years, this contract will quickly become a bargain if it isn’t already. Assuming the upper limit of the salary cap remains relatively similar to the projections, Moser’s contract will account for 6.49% of the salary cap next season and will drop to 5.94% by the second year of the deal.
Given that Tampa Bay didn’t attempt to line up Moser’s contract to expire alongside another blue liner, as they did with Hedman and McDonagh, it’s clear that the Lightning have high expectations for him moving forward.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images.
Scott Sabourin Fined For Slashing
As expected, some additional punishment has come from last night’s battle of Florida between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that it has fined Anton Lundell $5,000 for high-sticking Jake Guentzel and Scott Sabourin $2,018.23 for slashing Niko Mikkola (X Link). Each punishment was the maximum allowable under the current CBA.
Aside from last night’s fireworks, the Lightning had another game today as they matched up against the Montreal Canadiens. Unfortunately, Sabourin will not finish the game, as Tampa Bay announced that he has exited the contest with an undisclosed injury.
- Back in Tampa Bay, the team has again placed veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh on the injured reserve after reaggravating the injury that has plagued him throughout much of the season. Unfortunately, there’s no indication he’ll return anytime soon. Earlier today, team reporter Gabby Shirley shared that McDonagh is “a little bit more than ‘day to day'”. The vagueness of the report suggests that the Lightning may still be evaluating McDonagh for a clearer picture of his recovery timeline.
Lightning Activate Brandon Hagel From Injured Reserve
12:02 p.m.: McDonagh in fact won’t be available tonight. He’s been placed on injured reserve while defenseman Maxim Groshev was recalled from Syracuse in the corresponding move for Santini’s demotion, the team announced. While Groshev’s been recalled multiple times this season without making his NHL debut, that will change as he’s one of only six defensemen on Tampa’s active roster.
11:32 a.m.: The Lightning have activated left winger Brandon Hagel from injured reserve, Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports. Tampa returned defenseman Steven Santini to AHL Syracuse in the corresponding move, indicating Ryan McDonagh could be back in the lineup after sitting out last night’s win over the Panthers with an undisclosed injury.
Hagel has been dealing with an upper-body injury since the Bolts’ second-most recent rivalry game against Florida back on Dec. 15. He’s missed the last four games and nearly two weeks as a result. They’ll welcome him back to the lineup this evening against the Canadiens.
The 27-year-old is now in his fifth season in Tampa, continuing to pay dividends after they gave up a steep package to acquire him from the Blackhawks at the 2022 trade deadline. He’s continued to hover near a point per game with an 18-15–31 scoring line in 32 appearances this season. Named to the league’s second All-Star Team last year while finishing top 10 in Selke voting, Hagel’s 121 points in 114 games since the beginning of 2024-25 are tied with Lucas Raymond for 20th in the league.
Tampa dealt with his absence quite well, though. They went 3-1-0 in four games without him while outscoring opponents 15-9, scoring four-plus goals three times. His return will give the Bolts a fully healthy forward group for just the third time this season.
With Erik Černák, Victor Hedman, and Emil Martinsen Lilleberg on IR, Santini was summoned yesterday to fill the gap after they received word that McDonagh couldn’t go. The 30-year-old saw 7:58 of ice time in what was his ninth appearance of the season for Tampa Bay, recording a +1 rating with a hit and a block.
The injury keeping McDonagh out of action was a re-aggravation of the undisclosed issue that sidelined him for over a month, head coach Jon Cooper said yesterday. He returned to play in three straight before the holiday break, but evidently needed some more load management before getting back into the lineup. Whether the extra day of rest ends up being enough to get him back to 100% – or at least healthy enough to play every night – will be something to watch.
Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.
Wild Acquire Boris Katchouk
The Wild announced they’ve acquired left winger Boris Katchouk from the Lightning in exchange for fellow lefty Michael Milne. Both players were on minor-league assignments and will report to their new affiliates in AHL Iowa and Syracuse, respectively.
While the trade is a relatively routine one-for-one swap of minor-league forwards, there’s an unusual gap between where Katchouk and Milne are in their development. At 27, Katchouk is a higher-floor, lower-ceiling call-up option for a Minnesota squad that’s struggled to field a competitive farm team in Iowa for the past several seasons.
Katchouk was a second-round pick by Tampa back in 2016 and bounced around quite a bit before returning to the Bolts on a two-way deal last offseason. He was coming off a 21-goal, 49-point resurgence in 67 games for AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while on a minor-league deal.
So far, those numbers haven’t carried over into Katchouk’s second stint in the Lightning organization. He’s been limited to four goals and 10 points in 21 games with Syracuse, tied only for 10th on the team in scoring.
Katchouk did get a brief recall earlier this season, making three appearances for Tampa in November, his first NHL action since 2023-24 with the Blackhawks and Senators. He posted zeros across the board, going 7-for-19 (36.8%) on faceoffs as the Bolts opted to deploy the natural winger down the middle.
The 6’2″, 212-lb Katchouk has 15 goals, 21 assists, 36 points, and a -23 rating in 179 career NHL appearances for Tampa, Chicago, and Ottawa. That’s 178 more than what Milne has. The 23-year-old was a third-round selection by Minnesota in 2022.
The Bolts thus net a potential higher-upside piece but one without the experience of slotting in as a bottom-six piece if needed, like Katchouk. Milne’s lone NHL game came last season on Nov. 16, 2024, against the Stars, recording three hits in 6:34 of ice time.
He didn’t get his season underway in Iowa until the beginning of November due to an undisclosed injury. Since returning, he’s managed five points and a -11 rating in 15 games.
A couple of years ago, it looked like the British Columbia native might be able to pan out as a bottom-six energy piece in Minnesota. A good skater with great endurance, he scored 21 points in just 40 games for Iowa in 2023-24 but hasn’t been able to recapture that offensive pace ever since.
The Lightning now take a flyer on him, parting ways with a familiar replacement piece to do so. There’s no impact on either team’s cap or roster situation since they were both in the minors at the time of the swap. Milne’s minor-league salary is $100K, and he’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at the end of the season. Katchouk is owed a $250K AHL salary with a $350K guarantee and will be an unrestricted free agent in July.
Hagel And Cernak Take Part In Practice
A pair of core players for the Lightning appear to be close to making their returns from injury. Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times notes (Twitter links) that winger Brandon Hagel and defenseman Erik Cernak took part in today’s morning skate. Hagel has missed nearly two weeks due to an upper-body injury sustained against Florida, taking one of Tampa Bay’s top scorers out of the lineup as he has 18 goals and 13 assists in 32 games. Head coach Jon Cooper relayed (via Encina) that Hagel is now in the day-to-day range. Cernak, meanwhile, has missed a little more than a month due to an undisclosed injury that wasn’t the same as the lower-body issue that briefly kept him out in November. He has four assists, 43 blocks, and 40 hits in 19 games so far this season. Both players are on IR (Cernak is on LTIR, more specifically) so roster spots will need to be freed up before they can be put back onto the active roster.