Elite Prospects 2025 NHL Prospect Pool Rankings: No. 32-ranked Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning just won’t go away. Yes, they’ve lost in the first round for three straight years, but that comes after two Cups and three straight final appearances. Not to mention that they’ve still won at least 45 games in each of the last three seasons. 

Still, unless there’s some anti-aging magic, the Lightning’s core may be on the latter part of their primes. They were the fourth-oldest team in the league last year. In order to stay competitive, they’ll have to start turning prospects into players fast. 

The impressive pro transition of Conor Geekie means that he’s not even eligible for this ranking, but he would’ve ranked highly in our top-100 skaters list had he been. Gage Goncalves finally emerged as an NHLer, too. 

Otherwise, there might not be a ton of reason for excitement