TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Lightning opened their 2026 Development Camp this week with 27 prospects on the ice, including newly acquired forward Jack Pridham and a pair of former players serving as volunteer coaches.

The roster features 16 forwards, seven defensemen and four goalies. Nineteen of the 27 players were drafted by the organization, while forwards Pridham and Sam O’Reilly were acquired via separate trades with the Edmonton Oilers. The remaining six players are attending as invitees.

“Today they get to celebrate the work they’ve put in, and they get to celebrate with their families. These are incredible moments,” Lightning General Manager and Vice President of Hockey Operations Julien BriseBois said. “We get to see them on TV, and they’re incredibly emotional, and that’s a celebration of the path they’ve come. And now, when we get our hands on them this week and they get exposed to professional hockey for the first time, they get an idea of the work still left to be done in order for them to achieve their goal of playing in the NHL someday.”

Pridham, 20, was traded to Tampa Bay on the first day of June and is getting his first experience with the organization. Originally a third-round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2024, the right-handed winger scored 46 goals and 90 points in 65 OHL regular season games for the Kitchener Rangers and led the team in Memorial Cup scoring with five goals and nine points across four games en route to a championship.

“It’s obviously a great organization. The history and results speak for themself, so I’m very excited to get going this week,” Pridham said. “I’m a 200-foot player with good speed, good hockey sense and offensive ability.”

Pridham is headed to the University of Denver for the 2026-27 season. Denver finished this past season with a 29-11-3 record and capped the year with a national championship. “They’ve obviously got a great team down there and a great coaching staff,” he said, “so I’ll just be working with them on all areas of the game to improve and be the best I can be.”

Much of the 2026 NHL Draft class is participating, including second-round pick forward Oleg Kulebiakin, third-round defenseman Tomas Kralovic, fifth-round forwards Morgan Anderberg and Cooper Soller, and seventh-round defenseman Max Vilen, who spent 2025-26 in the QMJHL. The only 2026 draftee not attending is goaltender Stepan Shurygin, the club’s sixth-round pick. Six selections from the 2025 Draft Class — skaters Ethan Czata, Aiden Foster, Everett Baldwin, Marco Mignosa and Grant Spada, plus goalie Caleb Heil — are also on hand.

Retired NHL goaltender Mike McKenna, who started 14 games for Tampa Bay during the 2008-09 season and spent time with the Syracuse Crunch during the 2016-17 campaign, is volunteering as a goalie coach. McKenna, now a small business owner in St. Louis, said he still “feels the itch” to work in hockey. “My career really, a lot of it was just resiliency and details. I wasn’t a great athlete, I wasn’t anybody’s prospect, and I had to grind my way through a career. So I’m hopeful that some of those conversations with them can be helpful,” McKenna said.

Former Lightning forward Pat Maroon, who works for the organization post-retirement, is also serving as a volunteer coach. “It was a great opportunity for me to come learn from other coaches and player development coaches and skills coaches that are part of the organization, because one day you never know,” Maroon said. “I want to try to maybe one day get back into hockey, and this is a great opportunity for me to step foot into this and learn the process of it.”

The camp concludes Thursday and Friday with a 3-on-3 tournament open to the public.