Moser heads to IIHF Worlds after steady season for Tampa Bay

It might be difficult to use the word ‘underrated’ to describe Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman JJ Moser after this season.

The top players from each of Tampa Bay’s 31 NHL opponents know well the talents within Moser’s toolbox after 2025-26, his second season with the Lightning.

Moser won’t fly under the radar against any team next season. He has arrived to the prime of his NHL career, and he’s done so with great momentum.

“Mo’s a special player…I think he’s one of the best defensive defensemen in the league,” teammate Darren Raddysh said. “He’s killing plays, he’s always skating. He can kind of do everything, and being on the other side of him made my job a lot easier…Mo’s a special one, for sure.”

Another global pursuit

Raddysh joined Moser on Tampa Bay’s top defensive pairing for most of this past season, the same year in which Moser played for Team Switzerland at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Moser will again represent Switzerland on the global stage this month at the 2026 IIHF World Championship, which is being hosted by his home country. Team Switzerland opens play on Friday against Team USA and Lightning defenseman Declan Carlile.

Before that tournament, the 25-year-old defenseman reflected on his development into a steady cog for the Lightning this season. His continued growth led to the team signing Moser to an 8-year extension in December.

Moser’s 21 minutes, 34 seconds of time on ice per game was the second-highest on the team behind only Raddysh’s 22:42. Moser’s 91 blocked shots ranked second (Erik Cernak 91), and his plus-41 rating in plus-minus tied for fourth among all NHL defensemen.

Teammate Ryan McDonagh credited both Moser and Raddysh for their breakout seasons, calling the players who were thrust into bigger roles this season “coachable".

“They take criticism the right way when you're trying to help them out and then they apply it. They go out and they want to be those guys…That's all you want from a group is guys that are willing to do whatever's asked of them and go out and try to do it to the best of their ability,” McDonagh said. "But specifically those two guys, how important they were to our team's success this year was huge, and credit to them. They stepped up and have really cemented themselves as a huge piece for our team going forward.”

‘You want to take the next step'

Moser was a steady presence during a season that he felt was another step forward.

“I'm happy with the consistency I could show over the whole season and working on the goals that I set at the start of the season to just give the team the best chance of winning that I can, contribute the most to the team’s success,” Moser said. “Obviously, the way it ends, it's not the way you wanted. But I think overall I was pretty close to achieving the things and playing the part that I want to play.”

What does that part entail?

“The player I want to be is certainly a two-way player and being effective in all kinds of situations, whether it's offensively or defensively. Whether it's on the ice, off the ice, whether it's leadership, whether it's just being a good teammate. We have great role models in our team with that. I'd say (Victor Hedman) is pretty much the role model that you can say you aspire to be like.”

Moser appeared in 79 regular season games for Tampa Bay in 2025-26 while scoring seven goals—which tied a career high—and 29 points. 

He stepped up again during the Stanley Cup Playoffs to lead all Lightning defensemen with three points, among them the overtime game-winning goal in Game 2 against the Montreal Canadiens. 

He hopes that showing is just the start for his scoring contributions. After Tampa Bay concluded their tight-checking series against Montreal, Moser made it known that he wants to take another step with the puck in 2026-27.

“Certainly offensively, especially with how the playoffs were when we could have used a couple more goals,” Moser said of how he wants to improve. 

“That's certainly one thing, and leadership is the other thing. As you grow older, you want to just take the next step there and provide more of that also for the team to heighten your chances to be successful.”