Maxim Groshev
Groshev is a long-shot organizational depth defenseman for Tampa Bay this season, not an NHL fantasy consideration barring an injury wave on the Lightning blue line.
Role
Groshev, 24, moved from wing to defense during the 2024-25 AHL season and is expected to open the year with the Syracuse Crunch (AHL). He was in Lightning training camp on the roster the club announced (NHL.com, checked around September 17, 2026) and appeared in a September 22, 2026 exhibition game against Nashville, where play-by-play substitution logs show him rotating through bottom-pairing shifts alongside Michael Callahan, Emil Lilleberg and Steven Santini. No Daily Faceoff or beat-writer line/pairing chart placing him inside Tampa Bay's projected opening-night top six defensemen (Hedman, Cernak, Moser, Carlson, Lilleberg, Callahan being the more established names in camp) was found; he does not figure into the power play in any reporting located.
He is a big, athletic body (listed 6-foot-2) whom the organization re-signed to a one-year, two-way extension in May 2026 at an $875K AAV, and the club has shown willingness to keep developing him at a new position rather than release him, which at least keeps him in the pipeline as injury-replacement depth.
Shifting from forward to defense in his mid-20s is an unusual and difficult transition, he was not among the defensemen described as core AHL or NHL depth in the reporting found, and there is no indication in current coverage that he is competing for anything above the bottom of Syracuse's AHL lineup, let alone an NHL job.
Where analysts split
No substantive analyst debate about Groshev's role or trajectory was found. DobberProspects' most recent notes frame his position change itself as the open question (whether he can adapt to defense at all), rather than describing a split of opinion about his usage or NHL readiness.
Research confidence: thin. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
Others at D
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