Friday Four: How Lightning have thrived with depleted defence corps

The Friday Four is a collection of thoughts and information on some intriguing player storylines from around the NHL. On deck this week:

· Lightning overcoming loss of Victor Hedman and other key defenders
· Carter Verhaeghe on fire since becoming a dad
· Andre Burakovsky paying dividends for Connor Bedard
· Sophomore slump hitting Marco Kasper hard

Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning

If you were walking down the street and bumped into the current Tampa Bay Lightning defense corps, you probably wouldn’t recognize two-thirds of them. That’s because mainstays Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Eric Cernak have all missed significant time with injuries this season, forcing head coach Jon Cooper to put together a makeshift group until reinforcements arrive.

During Thursday’s thrashing of the New Jersey Devils, the Lightning lined up like this on the blue line:

J.J. Moser — Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edouard D’Astous — Emil Lilleberg
Declan Carlile — Maxwell Crozier

That’s a very thin unit for a team that’s supposed to be contending for a Stanley Cup. D’Astous and Carlile are undrafted, and when you add in Crozier, that trio has combined for just 69 career NHL games. Nobody would blame the Lightning if they plummeted down the standings with that group, but instead they have rallied and are leading the Atlantic Division.

A big part of that is due to Raddysh having a career season. He’s stepped up in a major way, playing more than 20 minutes a night and tallying 22 points in 25 games. That’s a 72-point pace, which would almost double his previous career best. Raddysh’s heavy shot has also given Tampa a different element up top on the power play, where he’s taken over with Hedman out of the lineup.

Someone like D’Astous, who’s played only 24 career games, has also been found money for the Lightning. The pairing of Lilleberg and D’Astous have won their minutes regularly, outshooting opponents 114-103 and outscoring the opposition 13-8 at five-on-five. Collectively, the back end is also doing a great job of blocking shots and helping out the goaltenders. Moser, Lilleberg and D’Astous have combined for 88 blocks.

Beyond that, the Lightning are also managing the puck really well and limiting scoring chances. Tampa has the fewest giveaways this season and only three teams have conceded fewer high-danger scoring chances. They’re doing a great job of not allowing their opponents to get quality looks and helping out their goaltenders. This is especially true on the penalty kill, where the Lightning have the third-ranked unit in the league, up three spots from last season despite being decimated on the blue line.

When Tampa has broken down defensively, it's been bailed out by good goaltending, and it hasn’t just been from Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning have never invested much in the backup goalie position but they are getting excellent play from Jonas Johansson. The journeyman netminder had a save percentage below .900 in each of the past two campaigns and was used as minimally as possible, mainly on the second half of a back-to-back, but it's been a different story this season. Tampa has needed to lean on Johansson a lot more due to an injury to Vasilevskiy and the veteran has already played in 13 games. To put that in perspective, Johansson played in 19 games all of last season. He’s easily going to set a career high in games played this season, even if Vasilevskiy returns to the net soon.

Johansson hasn’t just given the Lightning a lot of volume, he’s also playing really well. The 30-year-old has a .905 save percentage and is consistently providing Tampa quality starts. Johansson has a save percentage above .900 in nine of his 13 appearances this season and recently had a streak of not allowing more than a goal in three straight starts. That includes back-to-back outings earlier this week, when the Lightning trusted Johansson enough to play him two nights in a row and he rewarded their faith by stopping 26-of-27 shots in a big bounce-back win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Given all the injuries Tampa has endured, I’m sure they would’ve been content just staying in the race until they got healthier. Instead, they’re doing more than just staying afloat and have positioned themselves to make a real run at the Atlantic title when reinforcements arrive. If the Lightning can play this well with so many key players out of the lineup, just imagine the proposition of dealing with them when they’re operating at full strength.

Carter Verhaeghe, Florida Panthers

Dad power is real, apparently.

Just ask Carter Verhaeghe, who recently became a father — and it’s gone right to his legs, or stick. The Florida Panthers forward has five goals in five games since the birth of his child, helping power his team to a recent three-game winning streak. The points in the standings were desperately needed for the Panthers, who had dropped four straight prior and plunged to the Eastern Conference basement for a short time.

The truth is, Verhaeghe’s surge started before he became a dad. He now has seven goals and 13 points in eight games, giving Florida huge lift. The Panthers are without Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov this season, and were in a serious funk. Had they not picked up a few wins last week, there was a real chance the season could have gotten away from him.

This recent run from Verhaeghe has his goal pace up to 25, a welcome sight for the Panthers, who are hoping Verhaeghe can recapture some of the magic he had a few seasons ago. From 2022-24, Verhaeghe averaged 38 goals per year, before delivering just 20 last season. He was on pace for only 16 a couple of weeks ago, so hopefully for the Panthers, this recent run can at least give Verhaeghe a shot at 30 again as the season goes on. Without Tkachuk and Barkov, Florida is missing a lot of offence and it'll be banking on Verhaeghe to pick up the slack.

The Panthers still have a lot of work to do to get back to a comfortable position in the standings in their quest for a three-peat, but if Verhaeghe continues to play like this, it will certainly help the cause.

Andre Burakovsky, Chicago Blackhawks

When Chicago Blackhawks fans were clamoring for the team to acquire help for Connor Bedard, I don’t think Andre Burakovsky is what they had in mind. The veteran forward was brought in via a trade for Joe Veleno after spending three underwhelming seasons with the Seattle Kraken. Burakovsky’s tenure with the Kraken started out well enough, notching 39 points in his first 49 games, but he couldn’t stay healthy or maintain the consistency.

It's been a different story in Chicago, though. Burakovsky is off to the races with 19 points in 25 games, which works out to be a 62-point pace. The 30-year-old has shown this ability before with the Colorado Avalanche, where he notched 61 points in the 2021-22 season, but nothing about his time in Seattle suggested he would recapture that in the Windy City. Perhaps all Burakovsky needed was to play with more talent, and he’s really clicked with Bedard in a short amount of time.

Bedard’s most frequent linemate at even strength this season has been Burakovsky, as the pair have played together more than 30 per cent of the time. During that time, Bedard has 18 of his even-strength points with Burakovsky on the ice and he’s taken a massive leap offensively this season, firmly in the mix as one of the league’s top scorers.

This scoring surge from Bedard has the Blackhawks turning a corner and thinking playoffs, with Burakovsky being a catalyst for a much more-potent Chicago attack this season.

Marco Kasper, Detroit Red Wings

Sophomore slumps are no joke.

Just ask Marco Kasper, who is trying to fight through a major one right now. Kasper has only four points, three of them goals, in 32 games this season. The Detroit Red Wings forward is also minus-12 and it’s hard to fathom Kasper hasn’t picked up more than one second assist in 32 outings in 2025-26. That seems almost impossible to pull off.

The Red Wings certainly weren’t expecting this little production from Kasper after the rookie season he had last year. In 2024-25, Kasper scored 19 times and totalled 37 points, giving Detroit a lot of optimism it had found a key contributor for its lineup. He also proved he wasn’t afraid to get physical and throw his weight around despite his inexperience, as Kasper delivered 156 hits as a rookie.

If you’re looking at the glass half full where Kasper is concerned, that rough-and-tumble style hasn’t just remained, it’s even been ramped up this season. Kasper is on pace for about 200 hits in his sophomore campaign, now he just has to find the offensive spark again and get his name on the scoresheet more often. Part of that could be gaining more confidence shooting the puck. Kasper is averaging just 1.4 shots per game and it’s hard to envision a world where his offensive numbers take off again if he’s shooting the puck that infrequently.

Detroit was definitely counting on Kasper to be a significant offensive contributor this season, and rightfully so. A former top-10 pick from the 2022 draft, the Red Wings are banking on a lot more than just physical play from the young talent. Someone like Emmitt Finnie has been found money for the Wings, but they need more scoring depth from throughout their lineup if they hope to find their way back to the post-season. Kasper has proven he can score in this league and the pressure is on him to find that touch again.