The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to steamroll their way through the 2026 half of the season. They’ve won 10 in a row, showing this team has a lot of fight left in them. Meanwhile, they still have more options developing in the system.
Let’s check in on three familiar prospects who have looked strong heading into the new year. Whether it’s on the international stage or in the minor league ranks, these three continue to hone their craft.
Sam O’Reilly, Forward, Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
Sam O’Reilly is not far removed from a strong showing at the World Junior Championship. While he didn’t play out of his mind like some of his teammates on Team Canada, he still put up four goals and four assists for eight points over seven games.
A standout game of his came on New Year’s Eve during Canada’s 7-4 win over Finland. O’Reilly tallied three points, one goal and two assists. His goal was the final score to help put the game away.
Getting traded has apparently become a theme for him over the past few months. He’s now been traded by his NHL affiliate, and he was traded by the London Knights (Ontario Hockey League) last week to the Kitchener Rangers. He averaged a point per game with the Knights (12 goals, 16 assists, 28 points) and has a goal with the Rangers so far.
So far, he looks good. He still hasn’t played for a professional team yet, but at some point, maybe we’ll see him with either the Syracuse Crunch (American Hockey League) or the Lightning this season.
Conor Geekie, Forward, Syracuse Crunch (AHL)
For now, it’s safe to still call Conor Geekie a prospect. Yes, he’s played nearly 60 NHL games, but he’s still a young project for the Lightning.
We’ve seen a handful of Geekie so far this season. He has seen action in six games, all at the beginning of the season. Something just wasn’t translating to the NHL yet, so the Lightning opted to send him back to Syracuse.
He’s young. He has the time to develop, and he’s looking good so far down in the AHL. In 30 games, he has nine goals and 20 assists for 29 points. He’s putting together a solid season, and the Lightning have noticed. They seem to be happy with him taking his time developing in the AHL.
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“He can play here right now and help us, but we have other options, and he’s still such a young player,” Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said last week. “We just felt from a development standpoint, to help him realize his potential, he needed reps with the puck on his stick.”
Perhaps that’s not a bad thing. The plan seems to be working. If they’re winning games without him, and he can better prepare to be a winner later, then it’s a win-win. There is an argument that he was called up to help improve the depth prematurely after he came over in the Mikhail Sergachev trade. Give him the time. He’s looking good. We’ll see him eventually.
Dylan Duke, Forward, Syracuse Crunch (AHL)
The 22-year-old Lightning prospect is on pace for a career year down in the AHL. Through 35 games, Dylan Duke has 16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points. At that pace, he’ll have 33 goals and 25 assists for 58 points in 72 games.
All things considered, he’s still a young player. He could be putting the finishing touches on his development to finally make the jump long-term to the NHL level.
Duke has shown at multiple levels of hockey that he can work toward becoming a point-per-game player. He’s almost there in the AHL. In his last five games, he has six points, all of which have come since the calendar turned to the new year. The pace is starting to pick up a bit.
His play continues to stay strong as the season goes on. It should give him a chance to finish the 2026 half of the season strong and position himself to finally find a long-term spot in the NHL.
Fans have been looking forward to seeing these three prospects, among others, ultimately reach the NHL and play for the Lightning. That time is coming. It may not be this season, but their futures show they will have playing time at the highest level of hockey. We’ll check in again at the end of the regular season. By then, we’ll have a fuller picture of what could be next.
