The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without a key forward to start the 2025-26 season. General manager Julien BriseBois announced during media day that Nick Paul underwent surgery to repair an upper-body injury last week. The injury was reported to have been an issue toward the end of last season.
The hope was that he could recover from his injury without surgery, which is why it happened so late, but it wasn’t in the cards.
Fortunately for the Lightning, Paul will not be gone for a significant amount of time. He’ll miss about a month and is expected to return in early November.
The Lightning will start that month on a three-game road trip out west. Should they prefer to wait for him to return during a home game, the earliest possible date is when they play the Washington Capitals in Tampa on Nov. 8.
With Paul out, the Lightning will have to search for another answer for depth. He’s been a consistent face on the offense since he arrived ahead of the 2022 Trade Deadline from the Ottawa Senators. He’s missed just six games over the last three seasons and has put up at least 20 goals and 40 points in his last two.
The Hockey Writers had Paul penciled into the Lightning’s top six ahead of his surgery. Other outlets have already adjusted their projections.
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PuckPedia has shifted Oliver Bjorkstrand to the second line and slid free-agent addition Jakob Pelletier to the fourth line.
Like Paul, Bjorkstrand can provide at least 20 goals and 40 points, which he has done the last four seasons. Moving him up would be a wise choice.
Pelletier is a 2019 first-round pick that the Lightning signed over the offseason. However, there are a few other avenues the team could take to fill the gap.
Prospects Dylan Duke and Jack Finley have seen some NHL action with two games and one game, respectively.
Duke is coming off his first full professional season, recording 20 goals and 40 points in 62 games with the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Syracuse Crunch. Finley has spent three seasons in the AHL. While he hasn’t always stayed healthy, which has impacted the counting stats, he’s shown improvement in his per-game averages. At 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds, he also brings size that others don’t.
Other notable prospects the Lightning could potentially turn to are the recently-acquired Sam O’Reilly and top prospect Ethan Gauthier.
