Brayden Point is out week to week for the Tampa Bay Lightning because of an undisclosed injury, and it is unclear whether he will be able to play for Canada in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
The forward left a 5-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday after scoring a power-play goal at 4:29 of the second period that gave the Lightning a 3-0 lead. On the play, Flyers defenseman Cam York fell on Point's right leg, resulting in Point needing to be helped off the ice.
"This is definitely more than day to day, probably classified as week to week right now," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said before their game at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. "And I will sit here and say, hopefully, we averted what could have been really, really bad. But he's going to be out for the time being now, and it's unfortunate because the kid was really a big part of our team's success here of late. But we'll see. He's got a little time off here to heal, but hopefully in a few weeks he'll be all right."
Point, who has 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 37 games this season, was one of the first six players named to Canada's roster in June. He had a goal and an assist in four games to help Canada win the 4 Nations Face-off last season.
Tampa Bay is also currently without defensemen Ryan McDonagh (lower body), Victor Hedman (elbow), and Emil Lilleberg (undisclosed).
"The big thing is, you see these situations and you're like, 'Oh my God, is his season going to be over?' And it's nothing remotely close to that," Cooper said. "But you know, the big thing for us is how do we continue to keep playing? Of all the years, we've had a lot of hurdles in the injury department. Unfortunately, this is another one, but the group, we've been used to this. Hopefully, we can continue to march on."
The Lightning (28-13-3), who have won 10 straight games, are second in the Atlantic Division, one point behind the Detroit Red Wings. After Tuesday, they have 10 games scheduled before the NHL Olympic break starts on Feb. 6.
Selected by Tampa Bay in the third round (No. 79) of the 2014 NHL Draft, Point has 665 points (317 goals, 348 assists) in 694 regular-season games and 89 points (44 goals, 45 assists) in 92 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He led the playoffs in goals in 2020 and 2021, scoring 14 in each to help the Lightning win the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons.
"Well, you know, Brayden Point's a big player for us," Cooper said. "He's a really important player, but everybody's got their roles. So, it's just, as you said, move guys around a little bit. Nobody's going to completely replace him. ... There's guys on our team that, you know, are probably jumping or itching for some more minutes anyway, so that's going to come now. Like I said, this group has been a pretty resilient group so far. It should continue."
NHL.com independent correspondent Wes Crosby contributed to this report
