A familiar face is returning to the sunshine state’s west coast! The Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday announced that they hired Jeff Tambellini as their new Assistant General Manager, Director of Hockey Operations, and Vice President.
Tambellini has most recently spent the last three seasons with the Seattle Kraken as their Director of Player Development, but prior to that he has spent time with the Michigan Wolverines and has spent two previous stints with the Lightning, including Tampa Bay being the last team he played for, making this is a welcomed homecoming for Tambellini.
“I couldn’t be more excited to return to the Lightning organization,” he said during the announcement. “It’s where I played, got my first NHL job, and earned my first Stanley Cup ring. I’m thrilled to once again work with such a great group of hockey professionals in Tampa Bay. I want to thank Julien for the opportunity to take this next step in my career, and I can’t wait to get to Tampa and get started.”
Tambellini, the son of longtime NHL executive and former Edmonton Oilers General Manager Steve Tambellini, was first signed as a player for the 2015-16 season, where he skated in 65 games for the Syracuse Crunch, accruing 29 goals and 49 points. He played with Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde, and Andrei Vasilevskiy and BriseBois was the general manager.
He also made appearances at the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championships.
When he returned to the organization in 2020 to 2022, it was an NCAA and pro scout. He worked closely with many of the still current Lightning staff members, including Director of Amateur Scouting John Rosso and Assistant General Manager, Director of Player Personnel Jamie Pushor. Tambellini also played alongside Bouchard in the New York Islanders organization, during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
Tambellini now returns to Tampa Bay to serve as the Assistant General Manager. Per BriseBois, his roles will include assisting BriseBois in ‘all aspects of player personnel decisions, analytics, player development, contract preparation and negotiation, budgeting, scheduling, and salary cap tracking.’
He will also serve as Assistant General Manager of his former AHL team, the Syracuse Crunch as Head Coach Joel Bouchard was also promoted to General Manager of the club along with serving as the head coach.
In speaking about his new, yet Tampa veteran hire, BriseBois said, “Jeff has strong leadership and communication skill. He is organized and thoughtful in all he undertakes,” he said.
Tambellini brings a wealth of knowledge from his previous roles with the Wolverines, Trail Smoke Eaters, Kraken, and his prior role with the Lightning and now he will look to use that knowledge to help the Lightning get back to the Stanley Cup Championship in the years to come.
