The Tampa Bay Lightning's 2026 development camp officially wrapped up on Friday afternoon at the organization’s practice facility with the annual 3-on-3 prospect tournament.
Team Gaspar won the grand trophy, the final scene of what the Lightning feel was a productive week.
“It’s fun for us to see those young guys coming in and being wowed by the NHL but also be very open-minded to lessons, to make sure they grasp as much as they can,” Syracuse Crunch general manager and head coach Joel Bouchard said. “We already see guys that have intention to do what we’re teaching them on the ice…There’s guys that we see have so much joy to live their dream to come to an NHL development camp and we see guys from the year before, which we see the progression. It’s kind of cool.”
The organization also found time to mix in a gift for 2026 third-round pick Tomas Kralovic, surprising him with a three-year, entry-level contract on the ice at the end of the tournament.
Let’s cap the week with a few more camp conversations, these ones with 2025 second-round pick Ethan Czata as well as this year’s fifth-round picks in Cooper Soller and Morgan Anderberg before wrapping up with a pair of college leaders in Joe Connor and Jacob Mathieu (invitee).
Crown jewel
The celebration was in full effect on Friday afternoon at TGH IcePlex for six young players who captured the 3-on-3 tournament trophy.
Forwards Connor Kurth, Jayson Shaugabay and Aiden Foster joined Kralovic, fellow defenseman Jan Golicic and goalie invitee Danick Leroux on the winning squad this season. Their names will be engraved onto the trophy ahead of next year.
Kurth was mentioned by Lightning director of player development JP Cote as one player who took a leadership role this year with professional experience, and he flashed those talents and experiences during the title game on Friday afternoon with a pair of goals.
Foster opened the scoring on a snap shot before Klavs Veinbergs and Joe Conner gave Team Gaspar a 2-1 lead. Max Vilen tied the game 2-2, the first of five unanswered goals—Kurth made it 3-2 on a backhand chance, and Marco Mignosa buried a five-hole shot to extend the lead. Invitee Jacob Mathieu made it 5-2 before Kurth scored his second goal on a 2-on-1 shot.
Defenseman Everett Baldwin attacked a 1v3 situation and cut into the lead. The scoring only ended after a pair of nice shots—the first off the post on a rush and the other a one-timer—from this year’s second-round pick, Oleg Kulebiakin, in a 6-5 final score.
We’ve highlighted many of today’s scorers in previous FourChecks this week. The full replay of the championship game will be posted on YouTube.
A Czata conversation
Forward Ethan Czata has experienced a little bit of everything over the past 12 months.
Czata was Tampa Bay’s first selection at last year’s draft, taken with the 56th overall pick, and then served as captain for the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs during the 2025-26 season. He ranked third on the team in goals (25) and points (53), and his 28 assists tied for second.
His 79 penalty minutes led the IceDogs.
“I think offensively,” he said of how his game and confidence grew. “And then also my skating, especially when we’re working with a lot of the development coaches here, who are great and skating with them every week, it’s something that I want to showcase that growth in my game.”
When his OHL season concluded, he got his first taste of professional hockey with the Crunch in the AHL. He appeared in three games for Syracuse, posting 17 penalty minutes.
More new experiences are coming, too. Shortly after last season ended, Czata was traded to Guelph, who is hosting the 2027 Memorial Cup. He’s now also mixed in his second Lightning development camp.
“It's way better coming here and knowing who's gonna be here and kind of just what to expect. I'm coming here to show them that I've gotten better than last year, and I'm a different player from last year, so it’s exciting.”
He said this year’s development camp roster was fun to work with.
“I think everyone's here with the same mindset. They want to get better, they want to showcase their skills and everything like that, and obviously Tampa, they draft people with great character,” Czata said. “Honestly it just flows together. Everyone here is all great people, they're great players, and everyone's fun to be around. It always works out.”
Fifth round, first camp
Tampa Bay doubled down at the forward position in the fifth round of this year’s draft, adding Morgan Anderberg with the 134th overall pick and then choosing Cooper Soller with pick 154.
Anderberg, 18, played professionally last season for the Vaxjö Lakers of the Swedish Hockey League.
He scored two goals and three points in 39 games for Vaxjö along with 10 points over nine games in Sweden’s U20 league. Now his work is to become a Bolt.
“Super amazing experience, super fun,” he said of being drafted. “I’m super happy to be here and super happy to be drafted by the Lightning, and my family is super proud of me.”
Anderberg grew up a Lightning fan and wore a Lightning hat during the draft. He’s prioritizing his skating, particularly control during quick turns and executing proper crossover technique.
“It’s been amazing here, meeting all the boys, all the coaches. It’s been so fun practicing on the ice and off the ice, too.”
The two-way forward who prioritizes defense will return to Sweden next season.
Soller, 17, also experienced his first development camp this week. The 5-foot-10, 172-pound forward from California scored 26 goals and 49 points last season in 62 games for the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede and was named the league’s rookie of the year.
He helped the Stampede win the 2026 Clark Cup as USHL champions.
“It was a good year for sure and I set the bar high, but I wouldn’t want anything less than to go have another really good year next year and work hard this summer,” Soller said. “I’m gonna have a lot of eyes on me and a lot of so-called pressure, but pressure is a privilege, and I love it. So I’m just gonna go out there and give it my all again.”
He’s set for another year with Sioux Falls in 2026-27 and is committed to Western Michigan University.
Soller showed off a mix of speed and hands during this week’s 3-on-3 tournament and mixed in some scoring.
“I feel like I've definitely taken it all in. It was a really fun, challenging week with these guys, and I've learned a lot. I’m excited to come back here in August and grow in the summer and then bring that back with Sioux Falls next year.”
A pack of Huskies
Two of the leaders on next season’s Northeastern University men’s hockey roster shared the ice this week.
Joe Connor enters his third season with the college in 2026-27 after scoring 13 goals and 27 points in 36 games as a sophomore. A seventh-round pick at the 2024 NHL Draft, Connor ranked third in scoring last year for the Huskies, who finished the season 17-18-1.
“Honestly it was a very good season,” Connor said. “We started off really hot and then saw a couple bad bounces throughout the season losing our rank, but we bounced back really well and overall I thought it was a really good season for me.”
Connor has already been named an alternate captain at Northeastern this season.
The 21-year-old forward scored the shootout winner with a backhand bury to open Friday’s 3-on-3 tournament games.
“It was awesome,” he said of development camp. “All of the coaches, all of the people you get to hear from, there's nothing you can complain about. Every day you're just getting better and better.”
Only two players scored more for Northeastern than Connor last season, and one of them attended camp this week—forward Jacob Mathieu earned an invitation after posting 10 goals and 30 points in 32 games for the Huskies.
Mathieu, 22, will also serve as an alternate captain for Northeastern this fall and said this past week was full of education.
“I really enjoyed my week both on the ice and in the gym,” Mathieu said. “I think all of the staff was really professional, and all the boys were great, too. I really loved it this week.
As for the Huskies experiencing camp together?
“It's honestly unreal having a guy like that with me here and it just makes everything so much easier,” Connor said. “Having him with me, one of my best friends, it's awesome.”
