Gabriel Szturc is back on Tampa Bay Lightning’s Under-25 list for the third straight year, and the undrafted forward keeps nudging his way forward. He lands at No. 18 in 2026, a small climb from No. 19 last year and No. 21 in 2024.
Szturc is 23 years old as of October 1, 2026, listed at 5-foot-11 and 194 pounds, and is expected to be with the Syracuse Crunch in 2026-27. For a player who went through every year of draft eligibility without hearing his name called, just getting here says plenty about the path he’s carved.
The story starts in the WHL, where Szturc answered those draft snubs with production. In his final two seasons with the Kelowna Rockets, he scored 24 goals and then 33. That earned him a development camp invite from Tampa Bay, and by the spring of 2024 he had turned that into a contract.
His first taste of pro hockey came in the playoffs with Syracuse. After that, he became a full-time Crunch player for the 2024-25 season and handled himself well as a rookie, posting 19 points with 7 goals and 12 assists in 54 games. That set up some hope for a bigger step the following year.
The 2025-26 season ended up looking a lot like the one before it on the stat sheet, but not entirely the same on the ice. Szturc finished with 19 points again, this time with 9 goals and 10 assists in 60 games. He also chipped in a goal in four playoff games against Cleveland.
The numbers held steady, but there were signs of growth. His skating looked sharper, and he found ways to contribute in multiple situations, including three power play goals and one short-handed tally. He also missed about a month during the season, then came back at the end of March and caught fire, scoring five of his nine goals over the final 13 games while adding three assists.
That late push matters because the next step is all about staying in the mix. Szturc is entering the final season of his entry-level deal, and the question now is whether he can keep improving enough to hold onto his ice time with the Crunch while other prospects try to pass him on the depth chart.
What he doesn’t have is one loud calling card. What he does have is a steady collection of useful traits.
His skating is solid, his edge work has gotten better, and he plays the kind of game coaches tend to trust: forecheck hard, go into the boards, keep things moving. Offensively, his instincts are fine, and his shot comes off quicker than goaltenders expect.
If he keeps his minutes, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him reach the 15-17 goal range in the AHL.
The clips back that up. One one-timer showed how he can find shooting space, rip the puck cleanly, and keep tracking the play after crashing the net. Another sequence highlighted the improvement in his skating, with a couple of cuts along the boards helping him shake a defender before he cut inside to the front of the net.
On the power play, he showed the kind of nose for the right spot that keeps him relevant. He fought for the puck along the boards, got to the right place at the right time, and used a bit of hand-eye coordination to bat a bouncing feed into the net. That’s Szturc in a nutshell: not flashy, but decisive, and usually already knowing what he wants to do before the puck arrives.
In Other News...
Victor Hedman Opens Up As Lightning Await Captains Return
Victor Hedman has spent the summer away from game action, and his path back to Tampa Bay has been about far more than simply getting ready for another NHL season. The veteran defenseman has not played for the Lightning since March 19 after stepping away to address mental and physical health challenges, and in an interview with NHL.com he spoke candidly about the recovery process, his motivation and his sense of readiness as he prepares for his 18th NHL season.
For the Lightning, Hedmans return is about rejoining a core piece of their identity as much as it is about adding another blue-line option. He sounded confident about the work he has put in and the expectations he carries into the fall, even as he acknowledges the long layoff has changed the rhythm of his offseason. The next step is simply getting back into the flow of things, and Tampa Bay will be watching closely as its captain returns to the spotlight. [Read more 🡒]