Raw Charge
Summary
One of the surprising Tampa Bay Lightning players from the 2025-26 season appears to be set to return to the line-up after an off-season injury kept him out for the first three games. Dominic James has recovered from the broken hand he suffered during his workouts and could be in the line-up as soon as Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild. In order to open up a roster spot for James, the team placed center Jansen Harkins on waivers for the purpose of reassigning him to the Syracuse Crunch. Harkins, who signed a one-year, two-way contract this summer, appeared in the season-opening loss for the Bolts. In his 10:55 of ice time he had one shot on goal off of one scoring chance and was credited with five hits. Oddly enough, despite having a career face-off percentage of 52.5%, he lost all four of the draws he had against the Rangers’ pivotmen. When the Lightning switched to an 11/7 rotation, Harkins was the forward who found his way into the press box. A strong training camp earned him a spot with James and Yanni Gourde on the injured list, but Harkins was always the likeliest forward to hit waivers once one of the battered centers was healthy enough to play. Should he clear waivers, he’ll give the Crunch a veteran presence who has recorded 161 points (62 goals, 99 assists) in 225 games in the AHL. The 29-year-old will also remain at the top of the recall list throughout the season, should additional injuries befall the Lightning. While the Lightning might lose a little physicality with Harkins in Syracuse, they get a little more offense in the returning Dominic James. The 24-year-old was called up early last season and refused to give the Lightning a reason to send him back down as he posted seven goals and eight assists in 43 regular season games. A late-season injury had him on the shelf, but he returned in time to play in all seven games against Montreal, where he had two goals and one assist, and was one of the Bolts more dynamic players. He’ll give the Bolts a speedy player that is a zone-entering machine. He was one of the Bolts’ best forwards at using his speed to carry the puck from out of his own zone and into the offensive zone. What Brayden Point does on his line, and Brandon Hagel does on the Anthony Cirelli line, James can do on one of the other two lines. It will be interesting to see how Coach Jon Cooper uses him. The play of Pontus Holmberg, Zemgus Girgensons, and Ilya Mikheyev seems to have stabilized a third line, so it’s possible that James finds himself on a fourth line with Jeff Veal and Conor Geekie. In the Bolts’ last full practice, he skated at wing with Gourde and Scott Sabourin. After a team-wide rough start, the forward group has played really well over the last two games with the team getting contributions up and down the line-up. If Coach Cooper wants to stick with the 11/7 rotation, it would be hard to justify sitting any of the forwards. The choice will likely happen on defense with either Charle-Edouard D’Astous or Max Crozier getting a seat for a game or two. There should be a little more clarity after Wednesday’s practice session.