Trouble in Tampa? What the Lightning need to tweak to retake the state

While the Florida Panthers and other rival teams made bold moves over the course of the offseason, the Lightning made some smart picks, but still lack in one key part of their roster that they need to be strong in order to retake the state. The Lightning went offense-heavy in the draft and so far this free agency, but after they let Nick Perbix walk away to the Nashville Predators, there has been a lack of defensive signings or urgency to sign defensemen by the Tampa front office.

When Tampa let him walk away, many new that there was a lack of cap space that GM Julien BriseBois would be working with, but many thought he would at least replace a key part of his defenseive alignment; but so far there has been no direct replacement for Perbix, which could create a problem for the Lightning blue line heading into training camp and the upcoming season.

Perbix spent three seasons with the Lightning, skating in 220 career games. He scored a combine 13 goals, had 50 assists, 63 total points, and was +27 in his three season in Tampa. Defensively he had 50 hits, which was third-most at his position, with 66 blocked shots and 21 takeaways.

In 2024-25, the Lightning gave up 216 goals, averaging about 2.63 per game. While that ranked only fourth in the league for fewest goals allowed, it still wasn’t enough as they had an early exit from the Stanley cup playoffs while they watched the Florida Panthers continue.

As fans experienced, the Lightning had a high amount of turnovers on the defensive end, giving opponents high-danger scoring chances. While they have one of the best goalies in the league in Andrei Vasilevskiy and trust him to block shots on goals, the Lightning gave up a high volume of shots on goal and struggled in penalty kills.

ESPN.com listed the Lightning with an overall B- offseason report card when it comes to their offseason. They note that the Lightning did make smart decisions in re-signing Yanni Gourde and Gave Goncalves, but by not replacing Perbix, the back end now looks light and it doesn’t appear to analysts that the Lightning or worse, or better, than last season, but the same and leaving defensive depth lacking.

However, when you look at the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers, they maintained all the key pieces that helped lead them to the Stanley Cup title, signed a backup goalie, along with signing some fourth-liners, keeping them with a well-balanced fourth line and depth up and down their lineup. Their depth is what gives them a better chance of making it all the way every year.

This season, the Lightning lack in depth in the back. Yes, they made strong, smart offensive moves, but should their opponents find their way to the other side of the ice quickly, there is a worry that the defense will falter.

There is still time for BriseBois to make offseason signings, but with the lack of cap space to work with, analysts believe the Lightning may not be able to make many more big moves this offseason.

But if the Lightning want to retake the state, they need to clean up their fourth line and figure out how to strengthen the defensive side of the puck.