- The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without center Anthony Cirelli for tonight’s game against the Washington Capitals, relays Lightning team reporter Benjamin Pierce. Cirelli is managing an injury, one that caused him to leave Tampa’s last game early. Head coach Jon Cooper did note that the club is hopeful Cirelli will be able to return in time for the Lightning’s game against the New York Rangers on Wednesday, Nov. 12. Cirelli is a key two-way center for the Lightning, scoring seven goals and 11 points in 14 games so far in 2025-26 while also occupying a role on Tampa’s top penalty-kill unit. In part due to Cirelli’s strong defensive abilities, the Lightning have managed to kill penalties at a 89.4% rate so far this year, good for fourth-best in the NHL.
Lightning Rumors
Lightning To Activate Maxwell Crozier From Injured Reserve
The Lightning are activating Maxwell Crozier from injured reserve before tonight’s game against the Avalanche, head coach Jon Cooper told the team’s beat (including the team’s own Gabby Shirley). There’s an open roster spot, so no corresponding transaction will come.
A strong training camp from Crozier, plus an injured reserve placement for Nick Paul, created the space for him to start the year on the opening night roster for the first time. The 2019 fourth-round pick was a standout in AHL Syracuse last season. He was an alternate captain in just his second full professional season and he was the team’s top all-around defender, posting a 9-25–34 scoring line and a +16 rating in 52 outings. Over the prior two seasons, he’d also held his own with two assists, a -2 rating, and 27 hits in 18 NHL games in bottom-pairing deployment.
Not only did Crozier make the opening night roster, he was in the lineup for the Bolts’ first four games. The 25-year-old righty looked like a potential depth breakout piece, rattling off three assists and a +2 rating in limited minutes before he left the fourth game early against the Capitals with an undisclosed injury on Oct. 14. He was labeled week-to-week but started skating again last week.
He was deployed alongside Emil Martinsen Lilleberg to start. The duo didn’t fare particularly well defensively under the hood, only controlling 44.8% of expected goals and posting the third-highest xGA/60 out of the nine pairings the Lightning have used for over 10 minutes this season, per MoneyPuck. That might lead to Crozier getting different looks now that he’s healthy again.
Lightning Reassign Mitchell Chaffee, Scott Sabourin
Oct. 29: The Lightning announced Wednesday that they’ve reassigned Sabourin to Syracuse. With his suspension now served, he’s unlikely to see another stint on the NHL roster in the near future.
Oct. 28: The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled forward Scott Sabourin and assigned forward Mitchell Chaffee to the AHL. Chaffee cleared waivers earlier on Tuesday. Sabourin will serve the final game of a four-game suspension picked up during the preseason, making him eligible to return to the NHL lineup as soon as Thursday.
Tampa Bay has been strategic with its call-ups of Sabourin. He served his suspension gradually, over multiple call-ups, while also appearing in five games for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. He’s racked up two points, seven penalty minutes, and a plus-two in those appearances. It’s a relatively meager stat line for the usually-chippy Sabourin, who ranked second on the San Jose Barracuda with 111 penalty minutes in 65 games last season. He led the Barracuda with 192 PIMs in 2024 and led the Belleville Senators with 177 PIMs in 2023.
Sabourin has played in only 12 NHL games since his rookie season ended in 2020. He has two points and 25 PIMs in his limited appearances. He’s otherwise been a core piece of lineups across the AHL, offering imposing size and an old-school enforcer style. Tampa Bay could lean on that hard-nosed presence to turn around its 3-4-2 start to the season, though Sabourin would need to leapfrog Yanni Gourde or Dominic James to crack into the Lightning lineup.
Meanwhile, Chaffee will head to the minor leagues after appearing in the first seven games of Tampa Bay’s season. He recorded no scoring and 19 hits in those appearances. This move will push Chaffee towards his first AHL games since the 2023-24 season, when he posted 26 points in 36 AHL games and seven points in 30 NHL games. That scoring was enough to earn the Michigan-native a full season with the Lightning last year. He marked it with 12 goals and 18 points in 66 games, though he couldn’t keep that scoring up through this season. Chaffee has 25 points in 105 career NHL games and 89 points in 123 career AHL appearances.
Lightning Place Mitchell Chaffee On Waivers
Oct. 28: Chaffee has cleared waivers and can now be assigned to Syracuse, per Friedman.
Oct. 27: According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Tampa Bay Lightning have placed forward Mitchell Chaffee on waivers. If he clears by tomorrow, the Lightning will have more flexibility with Chaffee since he’ll be waiver exempt for the next 10 days or 30 games, or they’ll gain the ability to reassign him to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch.
It marks the second time in Chaffee’s young career that he’s been placed on the waiver wire. Before the start of the 2023-24 campaign, the Lightning placed Chaffee on waivers after he failed to make the roster out of training camp, and he cleared without any issue.
Unlike the 2023-24 campaign, there were higher expectations for the Rockford, MI native this year. Despite being relegated to Tampa Bay’s bottom-six for most of his playing time, he finished eighth on the team in goal-scoring last year with 12 in 66 games. He was additionally one of the Lightning’s most physical forwards, finishing second up front with 133 hits.
Again in a bottom-six role, Chaffee has gone scoreless through seven contests this season, averaging 9:29 of ice time per game. He leads the team in hits by a healthy margin, but has been benched for the team’s two most recent games.
Given his play to begin the 2025-26 campaign, it’s unlikely another team will put a claim on Chaffee over the next 24 hours. Still, for teams looking for some additional scoring punch in their bottom-six (looking at you, Calgary Flames), his 15-goal pace from last season may be enticing.
Strong Season Debut For Girgensons
- Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper praised the impact forward Zemgus Girgensons had in his season debut. Cooper told NHL.com’s Benjamin Pierce that Girgensons may have given the Lightning the intangible boost they were looking for. He didn’t manage any scoring in the appearance, though any support will be helpful after Tampa Bay began the season with a 1-4-2 record. Girgensons scored just six points last season, but still appeared in all 82 games, largely thanks to those intangible impacts. He should continue to slot into Tampa Bay’s daily lineup, after missing the first seven games of the season with an undisclosed injury sustained during the preseason.
Evening Notes: Reichel, Sharangovich, Lightning
Having been dealt today to Vancouver in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick, Pierre LeBrun of TSN had an interesting note on Lukas Reichel, that the former top prospect had asked for a trade out of Chicago. Lebrun added that according to Reichel’s agent, it had been a long-time discussion, but that things were amicable as both sides worked peacefully through the process.
As has been discussed, a fourth-round pick may feel underwhelming for Chicago fans, but the German native has just not been able to establish himself, never surpassing the 22-point mark in a season. On the flip side though, Reichel, still just 23, seems like a very solid low-risk addition for Vancouver. Even if the change of scenery does not pan out into Reichel becoming a true top-six forward, his skating ability and effort level could be useful in any team’s bottom six. Many in his mold have evolved and simplified their games to stick in the NHL, and it will be interesting to see what comes of the former first-round pick.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Derek Wills, voice of the Calgary Flames, shared today that Yegor Sharangovich is expected to draw back into the lineup tonight in Winnipeg. The forward was scratched for the last two games, after putting up just one assist in 6 games. Given the brutal start for Calgary so far, currently last in the league, there is perhaps nothing to lose to try and get the skilled winger going, who broke out two years ago as a Flame, scoring 31 goals. Especially as Sharangovich seems set in Calgary for the foreseeable future, in year one of a five-year contract worth $5.75MM per year.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-assigned Scott Sabourin to AHL Syracuse, and in a corresponding move, they welcomed back Zemgus Girgensons, who has been activated, as Head Coach Jon Cooper told Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. Girgensons is expected to make his season debut tomorrow. Meanwhile Sabourin, 33, will bring a veteran presence and a physical edge to the Crunch. He did not appear in a game for the Bolts, but the undrafted grinder has 47 NHL games to his name. Off to a poor start, Tampa Bay will look to turn the corner and silence any early speculation that the club’s long sustained success may be on the downturn.
Lightning Recall Scott Sabourin
The Tampa Bay Lightning recalled forward Scott Sabourin from their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, today. The move is the second recall for Sabourin in this early portion of the season, and has been made, presumably, with the intention of allowing the veteran to serve the four-game suspension he was levied in the preseason. Sabourin was recalled on Oct. 17 and was on the Lightning’s roster for two games. As he will be on the roster for tonight’s Lightning game against the Chicago Blackhawks, after tonight, Sabourin will have to serve one more game before he is eligible to dress for NHL games once again.
Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Dominic James
The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that forward Dominic James has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.
James, 23, was originally a draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, selected in the sixth round, 173rd overall. The selection was made after James’ freshman season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he scored six goals and 18 points in 39 games and helped the school win its third NCHC Tournament title.
After his freshman season, James quickly grew into a key player in Duluth. He was tied for the team lead in scoring as a sophomore with 28 points in 35 games. Although he missed almost all of 2023-24 after undergoing shoulder surgery, he rebounded very well in 2024-25. James led Duluth in scoring with 30 points in 35 games, and although the program didn’t reach the same highs they’d reached in his freshman season, James had nonetheless positioned himself well to earn an entry-level contract.
James signed a two-year entry-level deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning in September, and it’s possible he and/or his representatives (led by Wasserman’s Chris Lepkowski) felt James would have a clearer path to NHL action in Tampa Bay compared to Chicago. Had he signed in Chicago, James would have joined an organization with an extremely crowded prospect pool – they were recently ranked No. 5 in the NHL by EliteProspects. By contrast, the team at EliteProspects ranked the Lightning’s prospect pool last in the NHL.
While it’s impossible to say for sure what kind of opportunity to play in the NHL James would have received had he signed in Chicago at any point while his rights were held by the team, it’s clear that if his decision to sign in Tampa was indeed motivated by potentially seeing a fast-track to the NHL, James’ decision has been rewarded. This call-up is James’ first, and positions him to potentially make his NHL debut tomorrow against the Blackhawks.
James didn’t just earn this recall through his exemplary NCAA play, though, it’s his fast start to his first pro campaign that likely sealed the deal. James is currently tied for the Crunch’s team lead in scoring Jakob Pelletier, who is a 2019 first-round pick with 86 games of NHL experience. James has scored three goals and five points in four games, helping Syracuse to a strong 4-0-0 start. James’ performance in front of the Lightning coaches and executives during training camp and the preseason also likely helped his case. Per Natural Stat Trick, he registered two assists in four preseason games to go alongside 10 hits.
As for where James might play should he be dressed for tomorrow’s game, it’s possible he gets a look in the fourth-line left wing spot. According to team reporter Benjamin Pierce, Jack Finley and Curtis Douglas both got looks in that spot at practice today. While both Douglas and Finley have a size and strength advantage over James, the Lightning may turn to James for more of an offensive spark.
Girgensons Could Return This Weekend
- Lightning center Zemgus Girgensons could return to the lineup as soon as Saturday, notes Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. The veteran has yet to play this season due to an undisclosed injury sustained in the preseason but was a regular on the fourth line in 2024-25. His pending return was believed to be part of the impetus in sending Conor Geekie to the minors on Monday, ensuring he’ll keep having regular playing time moving forward.
Tampa Bay Lightning Reassign Conor Geekie, Recall Charle-Edouard D’Astous
The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that forward Conor Geekie has been reassigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. In a corresponding move, the club recalled defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous.
Geekie lined up on Tampa’s second line for their most recent game, but has just one assist through six NHL games this season. It’s possible the club could view a stint in the AHL, where he has thus far been successful (20 points in 24 career games) as a way to help him regain some confidence. It’s also entirely possible Geekie is recalled before the club’s next game, which is on Thursday.
This recall of D’Astous comes as the Lightning manage an injury suffered by Maxwell Crozier, the player the Lightning entered the season with slotted in as their seventh defenseman. It was announced last week that Crozier would land on IR with an undisclosed injury, and no further update on his status has been provided. During Crozier’s absence, veteran Steven Santini had served as the club’s spare blueliner, but Santini was reassigned to Syracuse yesterday.
Since the Lightning don’t play until Thursday, meaning there’s still a decent runway for Crozier to return from IR in time for the club’s next game. But if he does not, this recall positions D’Astous as the team’s spare blueliner, giving him a chance to make his NHL debut.
The 27-year-old has been on quite the hockey journey to reach this point. He finished his junior career as a star in the QMJHL for the Rimouski Oceanic, serving as the top-scoring blueliner and captain for a team that featured 2020 No. 1 pick Alexis Lafreniere.
Despite winning QMJHL Defenseman of the Year honors in his final year of junior hockey (and CHL Humanitarian of the Year for his work with local charities in Rimouski), D’Astous didn’t receive NHL interest. He signed a two-year AHL contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins, and failed to make their AHL squad out of training camp. He spent almost his entire first season as a pro in the ECHL, scoring 22 points in 46 games.
His encouraging progress in the ECHL earned him a late-season three-game cameo with Grand Rapids (where he would score his first AHL goal), but his progress slowed to a halt in 2020-21, as the COVID-19 pandemic greatly limited the number of games able to be played in the minor leagues.
D’Astous became a free agent at the end of his contract, and signed a one-year, two-way AHL/ECHL deal with the Colorado Eagles. While he only played in the AHL for one month of the season, D’Astous was stellar in the ECHL. He had a breakout season, scoring 57 points in 52 regular-season games and a whopping 30 points in 18 playoff games, winning ECHL Defender of the Year honors.
For many skaters, success in the ECHL isn’t a realistic path right to the NHL. But for the league’s best players, success in the ECHL presents a very realistic path to getting an opportunity to sign a contract in a high-level European league. Those opportunities often offer higher pay and a more comfortable playing experience than a player might find in the ECHL. The European path is the one D’Astous took, cashing in on his stellar ECHL season to sign a contract with KooKoo in the Finnish Liiga.
Just like his experience in the ECHL, it took D’Astous a year to adjust to the European pro game. But by 2023-24, he had found his groove. He scored 17 goals and 46 points in just 54 Liiga games for KooKoo in his second season there, leading the entire Liiga in time-on-ice per game and winning the league’s Defenseman of the Year honors.
His success in Finland earned him a two-year deal with SHL’s Brynas IF, and there, no adjustment period was needed. D’Astous was once again excellent, scoring 39 points in 49 games and winning the SHL’s Defenseman of the Year honors.
In a period of just four seasons, D’Astous had captured the Defenseman of the Year honors in three separate professional leagues. That undeniable track record of success finally earned D’Astous the NHL contract he’d been seeking, as the Lightning signed him to a one-year deal carrying a $775K NHL salary, $150K AHL salary, and $200K guarantee.
Now back in North America, D’Astous has picked up where he left off. He’s currently playing in a number-one defenseman role for the Crunch, playing a heavy workload in all situations through four games and leading his team in scoring by a blueliner with a goal and two assists.
Even if he doesn’t end up getting to play in the NHL on this current recall, the transaction is nonetheless a tangible reward for a player who has worked tirelessly to climb up the ladder of pro hockey.