Lightning Recall Defenseman Steven Santini From Syracuse Crunch

The Tampa Bay Lightning recalled defenseman Steven Santini from the Syracuse Crunch on March 10, with Vice President and General Manager Julien BriseBois making the announcement. It is the third time this season Tampa Bay has reached down to Syracuse for the 30-year-old Bronxville, New York native, a pattern that speaks to the sustained attrition the Lightning have absorbed on their blue line.

Santini has served as captain of the Crunch this season, playing 16 games and logging five assists with a plus-7 rating and four penalty minutes before the recall. Over his professional career, he has appeared in 377 AHL games across seven organizations, accumulating 21 goals and 92 points with a plus-63 rating. The teams include the Crunch, Ontario Reign, Springfield Thunderbirds, Utica Comets, Milwaukee Admirals, Binghamton Devils, and Albany Devils.

At the NHL level, the 6-foot-3, 217-pound defenseman has appeared in seven games with Tampa Bay this season, posting one assist, five hits, and five blocked shots while averaging 12:01 of ice time per game. Across 131 career NHL games split between the Lightning, New Jersey Devils, Nashville Predators, and St. Louis Blues, he has collected five goals and 24 points while averaging 16:53 of time on ice. New Jersey originally drafted him in the second round, 42nd overall, in 2013. Tampa Bay signed him as a free agent on July 1, 2024.

The transaction history this season traces the arc of Tampa Bay's defensive injury problems. Santini was first recalled alongside Declan Carlile on November 18, 2025, then recalled again on December 15 after Erik Černák and Ryan McDonagh were already on injured reserve and captain Victor Hedman had just undergone elbow surgery with a timeline extending into February. That December recall was Santini's second of the season, and he was subsequently reassigned to Syracuse on December 28 when Tampa Bay recalled defenseman Max Groshev from the Crunch.

The depth issues that drove those earlier moves had not resolved by the time BriseBois reached for Santini a third time. A reader comment captured in reporting from that December stretch put it plainly: four of six starting blue-liners on injured reserve at once. Whether the March 10 recall is accompanied by a corresponding roster move has not been specified in team materials, though a similar situation in December required the Lightning to place Emil Lilleberg on IR before that night's game against Florida.

Santini's value in this context is straightforward: a veteran who knows the system, can absorb meaningful minutes when needed, and has spent the better part of two seasons in and out of Tampa Bay's lineup precisely for moments like this one.