Tampa Bay Lightning season preview focusing on the defensemen, key returners, offseason additions and what to expect from the blue line in 2026-27.

The Lightning could look to keep this defenseman around.

The Lightning's decision to sign this defenseman last year undoubtedly paid off.

The Tampa Bay Lightning could be getting a key piece of their blue line back for a critical Game 5 vs. the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.

The Lightning blue line battled through its share of injuries throughout the regular season, and it took another hit Sunday in Game 1 against the Canadiens when Charle-Edouard D’Astous exited early after a heavy collision in the second period. The Lightning had 339 man-games lost this season, a total that didn’t include the 14 games captain Victor Hedman missed due to personal reasons.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are down 1-0 in their series with the Montreal Canadiens, and now may be down another defenseman.

The Lightning defensive group, who battled through a number of injuries during the regular season, took another hit Sunday in Game 1 against the Canadiens when Charle-Edouard D’Astous exited early after a heavy collision midway through the second period.

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Charle-Edouard D'Astous left Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens after a scary hit.

The Lightning will be without rookie defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous after he was placed on injured reserve following a leg-on-leg collision with Kirill Marchenko. Players placed on IR must miss a minimum of seven days, ruling D’Astous out for Monday’s home game against Utah and Thursday’s matchup with Winnipeg. Following the move, the team recalled defenseman Max Groshev from the Syracuse Crunch.