It’s here. Summer is officially over as the Tampa Bay Lightning return to the ice tomorrow for the 2024-25 season. Okay, technically they won’t take to the ice until Thursday, but training camp opens with media day at 9:00 AM tomorrow. While we won’t be there to ask any questions, we can assume that much of the day will be spent talking about a player who isn’t there – Steven Stamkos.
For most of the players, this will be the media’s first chance to ask about what happened in free agency and what their thoughts are about the first training camp since 2008-09 without The Captain. There will also be an update on medical conditions. As far as we know, there shouldn’t be any major recoveries for the players that are fighting for spots.
Jake Guentzel, Zemgus Girgensons, JJ Moser, Conor Geekie, and Cam Atkinson will be introduced as the off-season acquisitions. Jesse Ylonen and Lukas Svejkovsky will field questions about playing in the same city as their fathers. Someone will be “in the best shape of their lives”. All of the players will speak about their goals (making the playoffs) and once they accomplish that then anything is possible.
It’s going to be a pretty big camp by Lightning standards with 59 players starting out. Those numbers will be trimmed down pretty quickly, starting with the junior eligible players. Since training camps have started for most of the CHL, those players will head out first. The Crunch will likely open their camp the first week of October and that’s when the major cuts will happen.
Here is the official camp roster according to the Lightning:
Forwards (36)
| 11 Luke Glendening | 38 Brandon Hagel | 62 Jack Finley |
| 13 Cam Atkinson | 40 Gabriel Dumont | 71 Anthony Cirelli |
| 14 Conor Geekie | 41 Mitchell Chaffee | 73 Conor Sheary |
| 16 Jujhar Khaira | 45 Lukas Svejkovsky | 82 Gabriel Fortier |
| 20 Nick Paul | 47 Niko Huuhtanen | 83 Kaden Pitre |
| 21 Brayden Point | 52 Maxim Groshev | 85 Daniel Walcott |
| 22 Logan Brown | 53 Dylan Duke | 86 Nikita Kucherov |
| 23 Mikey Eyssimont | 54 Lucas Edmonds | 89 Ethan Gauthier |
| 28 Zemgus Girgensons | 56 Jesse Ylonen | 93 Gage Goncalves |
| 32 Jaydon Dureau | 58 Joel Teasdale | 95 Ethan Hay |
| 34 Kale Kessy | 59 Jake Guentzel | 96 Gabriel Szturc |
| 36 Milo Roelens | 61 Tristan Allard | 97 Kyle Chyzowski |
Defense (17)
| 27 Ryan McDonagh | 64 Steven Santini |
| 39 Jace Weir | 65 Max Crozier |
| 43 Darren Raddysh | 67 Declan Carlile |
| 44 Tobie Paquette-Bisson | 76 Roman Schmidt |
| 46 Scott Walford | 77 Victor Hedman |
| 48 Nick Perbix | 78 Emil Lilleberg |
| 51 Derrick Pouliot | 81 Erik Cernak |
| 55 Jan Golicic | 90 JJ Moser |
| 57 Dyllan Gill |
Goaltenders (6)
| 1 Harrison Meneghin |
| 29 Ryan Fanti |
| 31 Jonas Johansson |
| 33 Brandon Halverson |
| 70 Matt Tomkins |
| 88 Andrei Vasilevskiy |
There aren’t any surprises on the invite list. While Jace Weir and Kyle Chyzowski were on the initial roster, the two invitees were released from the roster on Tuesday.
The coaching staff will have a few days to figure out how they’re going to set up the lines for the first pre-season game which takes place against Carolina on Tuesday September 24th. Here is the full schedule for the camp:
Wednesday, September 18 – AMALIE Arena
9 a.m. – Media Day
Thursday, September 19 – TGH IcePlex
LIGHTNING GROUP
10:30 am – 10:45 am Goalies (North)
10:45 am – 11:30 am Practice (North)
11:50 am – 12:35 pm Practice (North)
THUNDER GROUP
10:30 am – 10:45 am Goalies (South)
10:45 am – 11:30 am Practice (South)
11:50 am – 12:35 pm Practice (South)
Friday, September 20 – TGH IcePlex
LIGHTNING
10:30 am – 10:45 am Goalies on ice (North)
10:45 am – 11:30 am Practice (North)
11:50 am – 12:35 pm Scrimmage (North)
THUNDER
10:30 am – 10:45 am Goalies on ice (South)
10:45 am – 11:30 am Practice (South)
11:50 am – 12:35 pm Scrimmage (North)
Saturday, September 21 – TGH IcePlex
LIGHTNING
9:30 am – 9:45 am Goalies on ice (North)
9:45 am – 10:25 am Special Teams (North)
10:45 am – 11:30 am Practice (North)
11:50 am – 12:35 pm Special Teams (North)
THUNDER
10:30 am – 10:45 am Goalies on ice (South)
10:45 am – 11:30 am Practice (South)
11:50 am – 12:35 pm Practice (South)
Sunday, September 22 – TGH IcePlex
LIGHTNING
10:30 am – 10:45 am Goalies on ice (North)
10:45 am – 11:30 am Practice (North)
11:50 am – 12:35 pm Scrimmage (North)
THUNDER
10:30 am – 10:45 am Goalies on ice (South)
10:45 am – 11:30 am Practice (South)
11:50 am – 12:35 pm Scrimmage (North)
Monday, September 23
Day Off
Tuesday, September 24 – TGH IcePlex/AMALIE Arena
GAME GROUP
10:00 am – 11:00 am Pre-Game Skate (North)
7:00 pm Game vs. Carolina Hurricanes (AMALIE Arena)
NON-GAME GROUP
10:00 am – 10:15 am Goalies on ice (South)
10:15 am – 11:00 am Practice (South)
11:20 pm – 12:05 pm Practice (North)
Wednesday, September 25 – TGH IcePlex/Kia Center Orlando
GAME GROUP
9:45 am – 10:45 am Pre-Game Skate (North)
7:00 pm Game vs. Florida Panthers (Kia Center)
NON-GAME GROUP
10:30 am – 10:45 am Goalies on ice (South)
10:45 am – 11:45 pm Practice (South)
Thursday, September 26 – TGH IcePlex
LIGHTNING
12:15 pm – 12:30 pm Goalies on ice (North)
12:30 pm – 1:15 pm Practice (North)
1:35 pm – 2:20 pm Practice (North)
THUNDER
12:15 pm – 12:30 pm Goalies on ice (South)
12:30 pm – 1:15 pm Practice (South)
1:35 pm – 2:20 pm Practice (South)
Friday, September 27 – TGH IcePlex/AMALIE Arena
GAME GROUP
10:00 am – 11:00 am Pre-Game Skate (North)
7:00 pm Game vs. Nashville Predators (AMALIE Arena)
NON-GAME GROUP
10:00 am – 10:15 am Goalies on ice (South)
10:15 am – 11:00 pm Practice (South)
11:20 am – 12:05 pm Practice (North)
Saturday, September 28 – TGH Ice Plex/Bridgestone Arena
GAME GROUP
10:00 am – 11:00 am Pre-Game Skate (North)
8:00 pm Game vs. Nashville Predators (Bridgestone Arena)
NON-GAME GROUP
11:30 am – 11:45 Goalies on ice (North)
11:45 am – 12:45 am Practice (North)
Sunday, September 29
Day Off
Monday, September 30 – AMALIE Arena/Amerant Bank Arena
9:30 am – 10:15am Pre-Game Skate (AMALIE Arena)
7:00 pm Game @ Florida Panthers (Amerant Bank Arena)
Tuesday, October 1 – TGH Ice Plex
11:30 am – 12:30 pm Practice
Wednesday, October 2 – AMALIE Arena
10:30 am – 11:15 am Pre-Game Skate
7:00 pm Game vs. Florida Panthers
Thursday, October 3 – TGH IcePlex
11:00 am – 12:00 pm Practice
Friday, October 4 – TGH IcePlex/PNC Arena
9:30 am – 10:15 am Pre-Game Skate (TGH IcePlex)
7:00 pm Game @ Carolina Hurricanes (PNC Arena)
Saturday, October 5
Day Off
Sunday, October 6 – TGH IcePlex
10:30 am – 11:30 am Practice
Monday, October 7 – Hertz Arena
10:30 am –11:30 am Practice
Tuesday, October 8
Day Off
Wednesday, October 9 – Hertz Arena
10:30 am – 11:30 am Practice
