By Five Tampa Bay Lightning Training Camp Battles That Could Shape the 2026-27 Roster
By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
TAMPA — For a team with a veteran core and legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations, the Tampa Bay Lightning will enter training camp with more questions than you might think.
We know Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, and Brandon Hagel will play major roles.
We know Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak, and newcomer John Carlson will form the defensive foundation.
And, barring something completely unexpected, Andrei Vasilevskiy will once again be the man in goal.
But after that?
Things get interesting.
The Lightning have undergone significant changes since last season, which ended with another disappointing first-round playoff exit.
Nick Paul, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Darren Raddysh are gone. Carlson, Ilya Mikheyev, Jeffrey Viel and goaltender Dennis Hildeby are among the newcomers.
More importantly, the Lightning have several young players who appear ready to start pushing veterans for jobs.
That means when Jon Cooper blows the whistle on the first real training camp practice, there will be jobs available.
Here are the five battles I will be watching.
1. Jakob Pelletier vs. Dylan Duke for a Bottom-Six Job
This might be my favorite training-camp battle.
At some point, Jakob Pelletier has to be given a legitimate opportunity to show what he can do in the NHL.
What else does he have to prove in Syracuse?
Pelletier was the AHL Player of the Year last season after scoring 28 goals and finishing with 77 points in 63 games. He also led the AHL with 31 power-play points.
Pelletier has made his intentions pretty clear.
“I want to be an NHL player, and I want to be a difference-maker. I want to show everybody that I belong there, and I can be a significant player in the NHL.”
But Dylan Duke isn’t going to hand him the job.
Duke scored 32 goals with 59 points in 72 games for Syracuse last season and finished third in the AHL in goals.
NHL.com projects Duke as a player who could arrive in Tampa Bay this season, potentially filling a bottom-six role while also helping on the penalty kill.
Two young, hungry players who have accomplished about everything they can accomplish at the AHL level, trying to force Cooper to put them in the lineup.
Early edge: Pelletier — barely.
2. Can Sam O’Reilly Force His Way Onto the Team?
Sam O’Reilly doesn’t necessarily have to make the Lightning this season. But don’t tell him that.
O’Reilly is coming off a spectacular season in junior hockey. After splitting the regular season between London and Kitchener, he exploded during the postseason with 17 goals and 28 points in 18 playoff games and helped Kitchener win the Memorial Cup.
He was also named Memorial Cup MVP.
And this wasn’t just one hot tournament.
O’Reilly became just the fourth player in OHL history to be named regular-season MVP, playoff MVP, and Memorial Cup MVP in the same season.
O’Reilly is 20 years old and has never played professional hockey.
Normally, Tampa Bay would send a player like that to Syracuse, let him learn the professional game, and bring him along slowly.
That’s still the most likely scenario.
But what happens if O’Reilly walks into camp and looks like he belongs?
The Lightning aren’t rebuilding. They’re trying to win another Stanley Cup while Kucherov, Hedman, Vasilevskiy, and Point remain elite players.
If O’Reilly proves he can help them do that right now, his age shouldn’t matter.
Early edge: Syracuse — but O’Reilly could change that quickly.
3. Conor Geekie vs. Everybody Trying to Take His Spot
This is a huge camp for Conor Geekie.
We’ve been waiting for the 6-foot-4 forward to turn all that size, skill, and potential into consistent NHL production.
Now the opportunity is sitting right in front of him.
Geekie had 17 goals and 59 points in 57 games with Syracuse last season. He also appeared in 14 games for Tampa Bay, scoring one goal with three points.
With Nick Paul gone, Geekie should receive every opportunity to establish himself as a full-time Lightning player.
But here’s the problem. Pelletier is coming. Duke is coming. O’Reilly is coming.
And Tampa Bay didn’t sign veterans like Mikheyev and Viel to sit in the press box.
Geekie has something those other young forwards don’t have — he’s 6-foot-4 and over 200 pounds.
If he uses that size consistently while providing some offense, he gives Cooper a different type of player.
We’ve seen flashes. Now we need to see consistency.
This could be the camp where Geekie finally establishes himself as a full-time NHL player.
It could also be the camp where someone else passes him.
Early edge: Geekie.
4. Who Wins the Final Defense Jobs?
The top of the Lightning defense isn’t difficult to figure out. Hedman will play huge minutes.
McDonagh and Cernak remain important pieces.
J.J. Moser is established.
And Tampa Bay didn’t give John Carlson a two-year contract worth $8.5 million annually to play 12 minutes a night.
The Lightning lost Raddysh and Declan Carlile during the offseason, opening opportunities for some less-established defensemen.
Steven Santini brings NHL experience and played 10 games for Tampa Bay last season. Simon Lundmark also received an NHL opportunity, playing 16:45 in his debut against Columbus.
Other candidates are in the mix, which is what makes this competition interesting.
The Lightning don’t necessarily need another offensive defenseman. They already have Hedman and Carlson.
They need somebody Cooper trusts.
Can you defend a lead, kill penalties, and survive against a strong forecheck?
Can Cooper put you on the ice in the third period of a one-goal game?
That’s how this job will be won.
Early edge: The veterans, but this position is wide open.
5. How Will John Carlson Fit With Victor Hedman?
This isn’t a battle for a roster spot. It’s a battle for roles.
And it could be one of the most important decisions Cooper makes during training camp.
Carlson scored 14 goals and finished with 60 points in 71 games between Washington and Anaheim last season. He’s played 1,159 NHL games and has 785 career points.
Now put that player on a team with Kucherov, Point, Guentzel, and Hedman. Good luck defending that power play.
But somebody has to quarterback the first unit
Hedman has been doing it for years.
Carlson has also spent his career running one of the NHL’s most dangerous power plays.
Does Cooper put Carlson on the first unit and reduce some of Hedman’s workload?
Does Hedman remain the quarterback while Carlson strengthens the second unit?
Or do they find ways to use both?
This is about more than power-play time.
Hedman will be 36 during the season. Carlson is already 36.
The Lightning need both players to play their best hockey in April, not exhaust themselves in December.
Managing those minutes may be every bit as important as determining who plays with whom.
If Carlson can absorb some of Hedman’s workload without Tampa Bay sacrificing anything offensively, that’s a win.
The Bigger Picture
This is why I believe this could be one of the most fascinating Lightning training camps we’ve seen in a while.
The superstars aren’t going anywhere. But underneath them, Tampa Bay is changing.
Pelletier has kicked the door down in the AHL.
Duke scored 32 goals. O’Reilly looks like one of the organization’s most exciting young prospects in years.
Geekie is running out of reasons not to become a full-time NHL player. And Carlson gives Cooper another elite offensive option on defense.
For years, the Lightning’s greatest strength wasn’t simply having Kucherov, Hedman, Point and Vasilevskiy.
It was having inexpensive young players arrive and contribute around them.
Anthony Cirelli, Ross Colton, Mathieu Joseph, and Nick Perbix all did it.
That’s the salary-cap reality of the NHL. You can’t pay everybody.
At some point, your prospects have to become players.
The Lightning may finally have another group knocking on the door.
Now we find out who kicks it down.
