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Lightning Activate Erik Cernak From LTIR

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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

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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

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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

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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.

[SOURCE LINK]

  • 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

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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

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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

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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.

Lightning Recall Scott Sabourin And Steven Santini

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Tampa Bay and Florida have played some particularly physical games in recent memory.  With the next matchup slated for tonight, the Lightning have brought up some extra grit, announcing the recalls of winger Scott Sabourin and defenseman Steven Santini from AHL Syracuse.

Sabourin has only played in seven games with Tampa Bay this season despite several recalls.  Three of those have come against the Panthers, which doesn’t include the preseason where he received a four-game suspension for an incident against Florida.  The 33-year-old has actually been somewhat productive in his limited action, picking up a goal and two assists along with 13 hits and 32 penalty minutes despite averaging just 9:17 per night of playing time.

Sabourin is on a one-year, two-way deal with Tampa Bay and has spent the bulk of the year with the Crunch.  In 20 games with them, he has six goals and two assists, putting him on pace for double-digit goals in the minors for what would be the fourth straight season.

As for Santini, he has suited up eight times for the Lightning so far in 2025-26, his highest NHL games played total since the 2018-19 campaign.  The 30-year-old has one assist to his name so far this season along with six hits while averaging 12:01 per night.

The veteran is in the first season of a two-year, two-way deal signed back in June and has also spent the majority of the year in Syracuse.  In 18 games with the Crunch so far, Santini has five assists.

Santini may take the place of veteran Ryan McDonagh in the lineup tonight.  Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times relayed (Twitter link) that the veteran did not take part in today’s morning skate and has re-aggravated his previous injury.  Head coach Jon Cooper listed McDonagh as out day-to-day.

The team had two open roster spots so no further roster movement was necessary to add the two and their roster now sits at the maximum of 23 players.

Tampa Bay Lightning Reassign Jakob Pelletier

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The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that forward Jakob Pelletier has been reassigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.

Tampa recalled Pelletier on Saturday, and he served as a healthy scratch for the club’s comeback win over the Carolina Hurricanes. The 24-year-old 2019 first-round pick has been stellar for the Crunch this season. He leads the team in scoring with 31 points in just 24 games, a total that also ties Laval Rocket forward Laurent Dauphin for the scoring lead across the entire AHL.

Pelletier’s recall cost the Crunch their most lethal offensive player during their two-game weekend swing through Hartford and Providence. The Crunch defeated the Wolf Pack on Friday night but fell to the Bruins on Saturday, results that kept them tied with Laval for the division lead.

While he didn’t get to play during his brief stint on the Lightning’s roster, the recall did come with a marginal financial benefit for Pelletier. He signed a three-year contract with the Lightning over the summer, one that carries a $775K NHL salary across all years. While his deal has a one-way structure in year two and year three of the deal, Pelletier is playing on a two-way contract structure this season. Pelletier’s AHL salary this season is $250K, and his guarantee is $350K.

This most recent recall slightly improved Pelletier’s chances of pushing past that guarantee in terms of total compensation by the end of the season in the event that further, more lasting recalls are in store for him down the line.

Lightning Recall Jakob Pelletier And Jack Finley, Place Brandon Hagel On IR

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The Lightning have brought up a pair of wingers in advance of their game tonight against Carolina.  The team announced that they have recalled Jakob Pelletier and Jack Finley from AHL Syracuse.

Pelletier is in his first season with Tampa Bay after signing a three-year deal with them in free agency.  However, he didn’t make the team in training camp and cleared waivers, paving the way for him to be sent down.

The 24-year-old played in one game with the Lightning in mid-November but has been with the Crunch exclusively beyond that.  Pelletier has been quite productive in Syracuse as he’s tied for the league lead in scoring with 15 goals and 16 assists in just 24 games.  Nearly a career point-per-game player in the minors (161 points in 163 outings), it will be interesting to see if he gets more of an offensive look with some of Tampa Bay’s better forwards banged up.

To that end, team reporter Benjamin Pierce relays that winger Brandon Hagel will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury sustained earlier in the week against Florida.  While not announced by the team, he has been moved to injured reserve, per the NHL’s Media Site, meaning he’ll likely be out through the holiday break.  The 27-year-old has been one of Tampa Bay’s top performers this season, collecting 18 goals and 13 assists in 31 games.  Meanwhile, winger Nikita Kucherov is listed as a game-time decision due to illness.

Finley, meanwhile, returns from a conditioning stint that lasted just three games.  He did well in those outings, picking up a goal and two assists while getting a chance to play a much bigger role than he did with Tampa Bay.  The 23-year-old has been limited to just 11 games with the Lightning this season where he has a goal and an assist while averaging 8:49 per game of ice time.  More specifically, he had only suited up twice since November 25th so the timing was right for him to go down and get some work in with the Crunch.

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