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Lightning announce training camp roster and schedule

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced their roster for training camp this afternoon. The list has some new faces who are in their first year with the organization, but it doesn’t contain any surprises. In total, 62 players will head into camp and the team will whittle that number down to 23 before opening day.

The Lightning will bring 37 forwards, 19 defenders, and six goaltenders into camp this year. That includes all 24 players who participated in the prospect tournament in Estero earlier this week. As a reminder, here is that list:

Here is the full list of players in addition to those from the prospect tournament.

The list contains mostly familiar names from last season. The team hasn’t had much turnover at the NHL level. Some new names in camp include Andy Andreoff, Brady Brassart, Cameron Gaunce.

Most of the roster spots in Tampa are pretty well locked in but there could be some competition at the bottom of the roster. If Adam Erne doesn’t secure his spot, that could open the door to Andy Andreoff or Cory Conacher. If Slater Koekkoek or Jake Dotchin don’t find a home in Tampa, that could also open a spot for another forward. The team carried eight defenders all of last season though so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them do it again this year.

Camp opens this Friday at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon. All practices are free and open to the public. Practice will be held every day through Monday the 18th from 8:55 AM to 2:50 PM. For more details, check the full schedule here.

The first preseason game is scheduled to be Tuesday the 19th in Tampa against the Carolina Hurricanes with another game in Carolina the following day. Given the weather situation in North Carolina, that schedule could change. If the games proceed, expect the rosters to mostly be comprised of junior level prospects that will then be released to return to their respective teams following the game.

For pre-season games, each team is required to dress a minimum of eight “veteran” players. Veterans are counted as any forward of defender who played in 30 NHL games during the previous season, a goaltender who either dressed in 50 NHL games or played in 30 NHL games in the previous season, or any player who has played 100 or more NHL career games. In addition, a first round draft choice from the most recent NHL entry draft counts as a veteran, but the Lightning did not have a first round draft choice this year and do not have such a player to count towards the veteran minimum.

The importance of this rule is to ensure that NHL teams dress enough high profile players during the pre-season for the fans. Most fans don’t want to come to a game, even in the pre-season, and only see juniors and AHL players. They want to see NHLers participating in these games. Below is a list of the players that satisfy the veteran rules.

Forwards

  • Andy Andreoff
  • Michael Bournival (injured)
  • Ryan Callahan (injured)
  • Cory Conacher
  • Gabriel Dumont
  • Yanni Gourde
  • Tyler Johnson
  • Alex Killorn
  • Nikita Kucherov
  • J.T. Miller
  • Ondrej Palat
  • Cedric Paqutte
  • Brayden Point
  • Steven Stamkos/

Defense

  • Braydon Coburn
  • Jake Dotchin
  • Dan Girardi
  • Victor Hedman
  • Slater Koekkoek
  • Ryan McDonagh
  • Mikhail Sergachev
  • Anton Stralman/

Goaltenders

  • Louis Domingue
  • Andrei Vasilevskiy/

Camp will officially end on Sunday, September 30th ahead of the regular season opener against the Panthers on Saturday, October 6th.

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