Last week, Elliotte Friedman speculated that one of the reasons the Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t raise a fit when it was rumored that the Florida Panthers were in line to host an outdoor game was because the Lightning would also partake in the outdoor hockey festivities. As he stated on his 32 Thoughts podcast last Friday (the comments start around the 54:31 mark):
“One of the things I kind of wondered about was, why are the Lightning so quiet about an outdoor game going to Florida? I think it’s because they could be getting one too. I don’t think they’ll be playing each other, I think there will be other teams involved, but it sounds like we’ll be looking at an outdoor game in Florida and an outdoor game in Tampa.
One of them, I think, being the Winter Classic. The Florida one I know is going to be played with Miami, with the Marlins, and that will be the stadium. I assume the Tampa Bay one will be at Raymond James where the Buccaneers play, but I don’t know. Also, football stadiums can be a much bigger challenge around the Winter Classic, depending on what the schedule is going to be. It does sound to me it’s not going to be just one team in Florida, it looks like it’s going to be two. “
Well, as usual, Friedman hit it right on the nose. On Wednesday, the league announced that the Tampa Bay Lightning would host the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium on February 1st, 2026 for the Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series game. Minority owner Jeff Vinik’s long-suffering quest is finally coming to fruition.
The Panthers are playing an “outdoor” game as well, as they host the Rangers on January 2nd for the Discover Card 2026 NHL Winter Classic at loanDepot Park, the home of the Miami Marlins. Why the quotation marks? Well, if you’re not familiar with the Marlins, they play in a retractable roof ballpark, which will give them a little more control of the environment, but basically turn into a weirdly designed hockey arena if they have to play with the roof closed.
The Lightning aren’t going to have that luxury. They’re going full blast outside hockey in Florida as they take over the Buccaneers home field for a few days to host the Bruins. Personally, we would have loved to have the Nashville Predators as the opponent, so that the Lightning can properly thank them for the awesome experience that was the Stadium Series game back in 2022. A joyous night of competition at Nissan Stadum that saw the Bolts beat the Nashville Predators, 3-2. We get it though, the league believes that teams like the Bruins (and Rangers, and Blackhawks, and Penguins) draw more eyeballs to these events, and it’s all about the ratings. So, we’ll forgive them their choices.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter who they’re playing, all that matters is that they are playing outdoors in Tampa, in February. It’s long been Mr. Vinik’s wish to host the spectacle in his adopted home city. Back at the team’s pre-season Fan Fest in 2018 he told folks that the league was close to giving the team the go-ahead, but the organization and city have been pestering commissioner (and hall of famer) Gary Bettman a lot longer than that. As Rob Higgins, the Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission stated,
“Hosting an NHL Stadium Series game at Raymond James Stadium has been our ‘white whale’ as a community for the last decade and we’re excited for our collective and unprecedented dream to finally become a reality.”
The Stadium Series game will be another major spectacle in Hockey Bay, USA, joining two all-star games (1999, 2018), three Frozen Four tournaments (2012, 2016, 2023), and the PHF Isobel playoffs. Oh yeah, and there were a couple of pretty fun Stanley Cup boat parades in recent memory.
Could it be a disaster? Sure. February 1st could be a rainy, 65-degree day. The sightlines in RayJay could be terrible. Hulk Hogan could somehow be involved. There are a lot of things that could go wrong, and we’re sure to hear about them all from people outside of the Sunshine State. On the flip side, things could go really well. There will be new jerseys to critique and eventually buy even if we don’t really care for them. They’ll be lead-up stories about the technology used to keep the ice cold in Florida. Players will talk about outdoor games from their childhood. Tailgating. So much tailgating!
Having attended the 2022 game in Nashville and a few other outdoor hockey games, we can tell you that the game itself is almost secondary. It’s the lead up and the party around it where the real fun happens. No matter what happens, we’re going to be there. Hopefully, you will too.
