Following the somewhat shocking trade of Nick Paul, the Tampa Bay Bay Lightning continued adding goaltenders to the system as they announced the signing of Olivier Rodeigue and Mads Sogaard along with defenseman Michael Callahan. All three players were signed to one-year, two-way contracts.
Prior to free agency opening, the Lightning had just three goaltenders under contract for next season: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jonas Johansson, and prospect Harrison Meneghin. Considering Meneghin had one game of experience with the Syracuse Crunch, and he struggled at times with the Orlando Solar Bears, it was inevitable that they would add some experience once free agency opened.
With Brandon Halverson signing in the Dallas organization and Ryan Fanti as a free agent, they needed to bring in some bodies. Julien BriseBois accomplished that.
Things started off with the trade that brought in the 24-year-old Denis Hildeby from Toronto. Then they added a couple of netminders with a little more experience. Sogaard is familiar to Crunch fans as he has 131 games of AHL experience, all with Belleville. Last season he posted a 7-13-4 record with a 3.60 GAA and .874 SV% in 27 games with the AHL Senators. He also appeared in two games for Ottawa in the NHL while also seeing Olympic action with his native Denmark.
The 25-year-old Rodrique was a second-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2018 and has 141 games of AHL experience with Bakersfield and Rockford. He’s appeared in two games with the Oilers, both in 2024-25. Last season he posted a 3.20 GAA and .891 SV% in 10 games with the IceHogs.
As for Callahan, the Crunch will be the first team that he plays for that doesn’t have “Providence” in its name since 2019-20 (okay, there was a brief five-game stint with Boston). After four seasons at Providence College (where he played with Max Crozier) he joined the Providence Bruins in the AHL. He has 52 points (9 goals, 43 assists) in 241 AHL games. At 26, he is what he is, a depth organizational player.
These three players are likely to spend the majority of the season in Syracuse or Orlando (if they accept the assignment to the ECHL). However, we said that about some of the Lightning’s signings last season. Hockey is unpredictable, and injuries happen everywhere. The Lightning at least have some depth at the goaltending level should something happen to Jonas Johansson or Andrei Vasilevskiy.
