According to NHL insider Elliott Friedman, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Gage Goncalves has been placed on waivers. If he clears, he’ll be assigned to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. The 23-year-old forward has appeared in 26 games for the Lightning this year and has recorded one goal and one assist in his first extended look at the NHL level. It’s a bit of a setback for the sixth-ranked prospect in the organization, who has excelled at the AHL level, but hasn’t been able to transfer his offensive skills to the NHL just yet.
Playing mostly on the third line for the Bolts this season, Goncalves had been a healthy scratch in two of the team’s last seven games (against Los Angeles and Boston) and has seen his playing time dwindle in the calendar year 2025. He hasn’t hit the 10-minute mark of ice time since December 28th and played a season-low 6:30 against the Penguins in his most recent outing.
It’s been an up-and-down season for the rookie as he’s shown glimpses of the skills that he’s displayed with the Crunch, especially when it comes to his vision on the ice and setting up his teammates. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been enough consistency in his game at this point to justify his spot in the line-up lately. He’s generated just three shots on goal over his last six games and delivered just two hits. While he’s not known as an overly physical player, it is a part of his game, and he had 10 hits over his first seven games.
On the season, the Lightning generated 46.15% of the scoring chances when he’s on the ice, and just 47.52% of the high-danger chances. While those aren’t horrible numbers, especially for a rookie, the Lightning need to ensure they’re icing a line-up that controls the scoring chances on the ice as they fight for playoff positioning.
Defensively, Goncalves wasn’t too bad (again, we’ll drop the phrase “especially for a rookie”) as Evolving Hockey ranked him above league average defensively.
It’s not the end of the road for Goncalves (unless another team claims him), and he’ll be back in a Lightning uniform at some point in the near future. In the meantime, he can regain a little of his confidence with Syracuse (where he has 6 assists in 5 games this season) and help jumpstart their offense, which has struggled at times. The fact that he was able to hold his own in the defensive zone is a good sign for a young player like Goncalves as that is usually the harder part to adapt to at the NHL level.
The next time he’s with the Lightning, it wouldn’t be surprising to see his offensive output go up, but in the meantime he can get back to playing 15-20 minutes a night with the Crunch. With the Bolts carrying just 12 forwards with him on the roster, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them call another player up prior to their game against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
