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SAVANNAH, Ga. (www.jaxsportsday.com) — The Florida Panthers and Savannah Ghost Pirates announced  that they have extended their affiliation agreement through the 2028–29 season. The 2026–27 campaign will mark the third season of the partnership between Savannah and Florida. “We are extremely excited to continue our partnership with the Florida Panthers and the Charlotte Checkers,” said John Thompson, Executive Vice President of Zawyer Sports Savannah. “We want to thank the entire Panthers organization as we continue to build success over the next three seasons.” Through its first two seasons, the affiliation has helped develop several players in Savannah, including goaltenders Cooper Black and Kirill Gerasimyuk, who are nearing their NHL debuts.  It has also seen Evan Cormier, the Ghost Pirates’ goaltender for the past two seasons, raise the Stanley Cup with the Panthers in 2025. “The Savannah Ghost Pirates have been a tremendous partner in our player development pipeline, an...

By Mike Bonts (SportsDay Media) - The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers announced their 2026 preseason schedules. Tampa Bay will take part in four contests, including two at Benchmark International Arena.  The Panthers will open their preseason at Amerant Bank Arena against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. (ET) before visiting the Hurricanes in Raleigh at Lenovo Center on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. (ET).   Florida will then face their intrastate rivals Tampa Bay Lightning for a home-and-away matchup to wrap the 2026-27 preseason with games on Thursday, Sept. 24 in Tampa at Benchmark International Arena at 7 p.m. ET and on Saturday, Sept. 26 in Sunrise at Amerant Bank Arena at 6 p.m. ET.  The Lightning will open the preseason on Sunday, September 20 against the Nashville Predators at 5 p.m. at Benchmark International Arena. On Tuesday, September 22, the Lightning will travel to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena for a second matchup with the P...

By Mike Bonts SAINT PAUL, Minn.(SportsDay) – The Minnesota Wild selected three players during the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft, hosted Friday and Saturday in Buffalo, N.Y. Minnesota selected two forwards and one goaltender, including one Swede, one Canadian and one Czech. The Wild began Saturday by selecting center Adam Andersson in the third round (No. 83 overall) after acquiring the selection from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a third-round selection (No. 89 overall) and a fifth-round selection (No. 153 overall) in the 2026 NHL Draft. Andersson, 17 (7/2/2008), recorded 17 points (3-14=17) in 30 games with Leksands IF of the Swedish Under-20 league last season. The 6-foot-4, 218-pound native of Stockholm also tallied four points (1-3=4) in seven games while helping Sweden win a gold medal at the 2026 IIHF Under-18 World Championship, ranking second among tournament skaters with 61 face offs won. "Adam is a big centerman with strong work ethic," said Wild Director of Eu...

By MIKE BONTS TAMPA BAY (SportsDay) - The Tampa Bay Lightning selected six players today during the second day of the 2026 NHL Draft, taking place at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. The Lightning’s 2026 Draft is presented by Florida Blue. The Lightning traded up to the 52nd overall pick in the second round to select forward Oleg Kulebiakin from the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL. Kulebiakin, 5-foot 10, 178 pounds, recorded 29 goals and 73 points in 64 games for Halifax last season. A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, he also skated in four playoff games, registering two assists. Kulebiakin led the Mooseheads for assists, points and power-play points with 26, while ranking third for goals. He is currently committed to play for UMass for the 2027-28 season. With the 26th pick in the third round, 90th overall, Tampa Bay selected defenseman Tomas Kralovic from Bratislava Slovan of the Slovakian league. The 6-foot-3, 202-pound blueliner recorded six goals and 31 points last season in...

TAMPA BAY - The Tampa Bay Lightning announced a variety of exciting special events taking place this Thursday, October 9, as the club kicks off the 2025-26 NHL season, presented by AdventHealth, with a divisional matchup against the Ottawa Senators at Benchmark International Arena. Prior to puck drop at 7 p.m., Bolts fans can enjoy an afternoon packed with the return of the blue carpet walk, electrifying live entertainment, happy hour pre-game specials and more. The afternoon festivities will begin at 3:45 p.m. with the return of the Lightning Blue Carpet Walk as the team will arrive and greet fans on Ford Thunder Alley. Shortly after, Bolts Nation won’t want to miss a FREE pre-game concert on the Ford Thunder Alley stage, featuring local Tampa rock band, Saints of Saturn, from 5-7 p.m. Fans enjoying the festivities can pair the live music with a number of specials during Lightning Happy Hour, also running from 5-7 p.m. and highlighted by $2.50 waters and sodas, $5 beers and seltzers, ...

By Mike Bonts, Florida Sports Wire TAMPA - The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Saturday night at Benchmark International Arena. Mitchell Chaffee scored the eventual game-winning goal, coming on the power play at 4:27 of the second period to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead. Chaffee’s goal was his second of the preseason Tampa Bay is now 4-0-0 in the preseason with three games left before the start of the regular season. The last time the Lightning opened the preseason 4-0-0 was the 2013-14 preseason. They have never opened a preseason with a 5-0-0 record. Ozzy Wiesblatt scored the lone Nashville goal. Wiesblatt tipped in a Fedor Svechkov shot into the twine in his first preseason game  Darren Raddysh scored the game-opening goal at 5:34 of the first period, marking his first goal of the preseason…He also picked up an assist on Hagel’s power-play marker...He rated +2 and led Bolts skaters for time on ice (22:20). Raddysh led all Lightning skaters for po...

TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have reduced their training camp roster by 10 today, Vice President and General Manager Julien BriseBois announced today. Tampa Bay now has 53 players remaining on the team’s roster. The following players have been assigned:  Player/ Assigned to Baldwin, Everett/ Saint John (QMJHL) Czata, Ethan/ Niagara (OHL) Foster, Aiden/ Prince George (WHL) Golicic, Jan/ Gatineau (QMJHL) Heil, Caleb/ Madison (USHL) Mignosa, Marco/ Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) O’Reilly, Sam/ London (OHL) Pitre, Kaden/ Flint (OHL) Spada, Grant/ Guelph (OHL) Additionally, Maddox Labre was released from the training camp roster and will report to Victoriaville (QMJHL).

TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning clinched a berth in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs today, as a result of the New York Rangers’ 4-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils.  The Bolts will play postseason hockey for a franchise record eighth-consecutive season and the 17th time in club history. Following tonight’s contest at Buffalo, the Lightning will have six regular season games remaining, four at home and two on the road. Tampa Bay’s 2025 postseason is presented by AdventHealth. Dating back to the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, no other team has played in more postseason games than the Lightning, whose 146 are 48 more than the second-place team, the Dallas Stars, who have appeared in 98. Additionally, no team has won more playoff games during that time, with the Bolts registering 87 victories compared to the Vegas Golden Knights, who rank second, with 57. Entering play on April 5, the Lightning sit in second place in the Atlantic Division, just three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs, ...

FLORIDA SPORTSDAY TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning today announced the nominees for the 2024-25 Lightning Hall of Fame. Lightning fans will be able to cast their votes with the Lightning Hall of Fame Fan Vote, exclusively on the Tampa Bay Lightning app. The 2024-25 Lightning Hall of Fame Nominees were selected by the official selection committee, made up of 10 individuals who are, or have been, instrumental in the success of the franchise in their specific area of expertise. The Hall of Fame Fan Vote will serve as the 11th committee member. Each voter will have the opportunity to vote for the top two nominees they believe should be inducted. The Lightning Hall of Fame program is being created to pay homage to the franchise’s great history and honor special individuals who have made significant contributions to the Lightning, on and off the ice. Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Phil Esposito were inducted into the Lightning Hall of Fame in 2023, and Brad Richards and Dave And...

TAMPA BAY –  The Tampa Bay Lightning have reduced their training camp roster by 18 today, vice president and general manager Julien BriseBois announced today. Tampa Bay now has 35 players remaining on the team’s roster.   The following players have been assigned:   Player Assigned to Duke, Dylan Syracuse (AHL) Dureau, Jaydon Syracuse (AHL) Edmonds, Lucas Syracuse (AHL) Gill, Dyllan Syracuse (AHL) Huuhtanen, Niko Syracuse (AHL) Roelens, Milo Syracuse (AHL) Schmidt, Roman Syracuse (AHL) Svejkovsky, Lukas Syracuse (AHL) Szturc, Gabriel Syracuse (AHL)   The following players have been released from their PTOs:   Dumont, Gabriel Fanti, Ryan Feist, Tyson Halverson, Brandon Kessy, Kale Khaira, Jujhar Teasdale, Joel Walcott, Daniel Walford, Scott   The following players were previously released from the training camp roster:   Chyzowski, Kyle Golicic, Jan Hay, Ethan Pitre, Kaden Meneghin, Harrison Weir, Jace   Current Lightning Camp Roster:   FORWARD...