Roster battles become clearer as Lightning reduce training camp roster by seven

As the calendar turns to October, time is getting short for the Tampa Bay Lightning to finalize their 2025-26 roster. They took another step towards clarity as they reduced the training camp roster by seven players on Wednesday, leaving 26 in camp. With the moves, some finalists have emerged for the final spots for opening night.

Second round of training camp cuts came through today. #GoBolts

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— Raw Charge (@rawcharge.com) October 1, 2025 at 2:51 PM

Duke, Sabourin, Schmidt and Abruzzese aren’t much of a surprise. The fact that he is exempt from waivers probably led to Stachowiak heading to Syracuse considering he was one of the best players in camp. We’ll have to nervously wait until 2:00 PM EST to see if Katchouk and Pelletier clear waivers. The fact that Pelletier has a three-year deal (with two years being one-way deals) may keep some teams away from the 24-year-old forward. Katchouk, who has been claimed on waivers before in his career, may not be so lucky. He could be a useful depth forward for a lot of teams.

It was a busy day around the NHL as 38 players were placed on waivers so perhaps Katchouk and Pelletier will get caught up in the wash.

For the Lightning, the training camp roster currently stands at 26 players. It’ll be down to 25 once Brandon Halverson is assigned to the Crunch (he’ll have to clear waivers first). Nick Paul will likely start the season on Injured Reserve so that brings the number down to 24.

At some point Dominic James is going to head to Syracuse as well. That puts the roster at 23, and the Lightning would be cap compliant as well. That being said, Julien BriseBois has never been one to carry a full roster unless he needed to. For one thing, the Lightning don’t like to let players sit in the press box, so the chance of them carrying two extra forwards and an eighth defenseman are pretty slim.

At this point it appears Jack Finley has won the job of 13th forward and will break camp with the team. That means the final cut will likely come down to Max Crozier or Declan Carlile. Crozier had a really solid game on Tuesday, and he brings a little more versatility to the line-up. While Carlile would have to clear waivers to be assigned to Syracuse, it’s a good chance he’ll clear.

One wrinkle to the plan could be the status of Pontus Holmberg. The free-agent signee has been on the ice, but in a red non-contact sweater. If he’s not ready to go in just over a week, the Lightning might recall one of the players they just sent down. It is possible that they put Pelletier on waivers with the intention to recall him if they need him.

Expect some final tinkering to go on over the next week, but the roster is getting pretty close to being set.

Our guess at the opening night roster:

Forwards:

Defense:

Goaltenders: