Max Crozier makes his season debut on Monday, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman plans to bring the “hard-nosed” game that has become his NHL calling card.
Crozier’s debut comes in the Lightning’s third game of the season against the Philadelphia Flyers, as Tampa Bay turns to its defensive depth following an injury to Emil Lilleberg.
“A hard-nosed game,” Crozier said of what he can bring tonight. “I like to win my 50-50 battles, keep it simple, get the puck to the guys that score goals, play physical and make it easy for (goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy).”
Crozier, 26, finished his first full NHL season with the Lightning in 2025-26, setting career highs across the board with 35 games played, his first NHL goal, 10 points and 40 penalty minutes despite missing extended time due to injury.
Tampa Bay owned 54.4% of the shot attempts with Crozier on the ice a season ago, third best of any Lightning defenseman, illustrating his ability to drive play toward the opposing net.
The coaching staff was impressed with Crozier last season, and that continued after a strong preseason showing this fall. With eight NHL defensemen, not everyone can play every night. That meant no Crozier for the opening two games despite his impressive camp.
“I think it brings the best out of everyone,” Crozier said of the busy blue line. “I think a healthy competition like that is unreal, especially early on in this year. It’s tough to see someone like Lilly go down like that, but it gives us confidence that there's that next-man-up mentality, and I'm excited to get in the lineup.”
The Lightning will play 11 defensemen for a second consecutive game, as Crozier draws in for Lilleberg after the latter left Saturday’s game early due to an injury sustained in a second-period fight.
Tampa Bay hopes to have Lilleberg back “within a week,” coach Jon Cooper said Monday. In the meantime, they’ve got full faith in his replacement.
Assistant coach Rob Zettler said Crozier has earned that trust through consistency.
“He's a guy that brings it every day…I know when he gets penciled into the lineup he's going to compete hard and he's going to make it hard on the other team,” Zettler said, “and that's what he needs to do. We love Crow. We love what he brings to the table.”
Now it’s time to bring it when it counts, and Crozier’s no stranger to that. He played a pair of playoff games for the Lightning in last spring’s First Round series against Montreal, and his impact was immediate.
Crozier delivered a crushing hit on Montreal forward Juraj Slafkovsky in Game 4 with Tampa Bay trailing 2-0, and it helped galvanize a 3-2 comeback victory to even the series.
There could be more of that hard-nosed play coming tonight, and teammate Charle-Edouard D’Astous is excited to see it. D’Astous skated alongside Crozier in the team’s preseason finale, and he knows what the team can expect from No. 24.
“He brings a lot of physicality and he’s a good skater,” D’Astous said, “so I’m excited to see him on the ice tonight.”
Crozier has been preparing for this moment for months.
“I think preparation breeds confidence, and I felt like I had a really good summer mentally and physically, and that really got me prepared for this upcoming season. That translated into the preseason, but now I'm looking forward to translating it into the real season.”
After biding his time through two games, Crozier finally gets the chance to put that preparation to the test tonight.
