Lightning re-sign Nick Abruzzese to one-year contract

The financial details of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but it will likey be similar to the contract he signed with Tampa Bay ahead of the 2025-26 season, which had an NHL cap hit of $775,000 and a minor-league salary of $250,000.

Abruzzese, 26, did not see any action with the Lightning this past season, as he played 56 games with Tampa Bay’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Syracuse Crunch, where he put up 15 goals and 36 assists for 51 points. He also contributed a goal and three assists for four points in four postseason games for Syracuse.

The Slate Hill, New York native was intially selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. He had spent the two seasons leading up to his getting drafted with the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League (USHL), including his 2018-19 campaign in which he notched 29 goals and 51 assists for 80 points in 62 games.

After getting drafted, he went on to play two collegiate seasons with Harvard University, where he registered 23 goals and 54 assists for a total of 77 points over 59 combined games.

He has only played a total of 11 NHL games in his career so far, all with the Maple Leafs in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, in which he managed just a goal and two assists for three points.

Prior to this season with Syracuse, he played three seasons for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, including his career-best campaign in 2023-24 in which he had 16 goals and 36 assists for 52 points in 71 games.