Nick Paul Injury: Out until November

Paul underwent surgery to address an upper-body injury and will be out until early November, Erik Erlendsson of LightningInsider.com reports Wednesday.

Paul had been dealing with this injury last season. He initially tried rehab before ultimately settling on surgery. The 30-year-old had 22 goals and 41 points across 76 regular-season appearances with Tampa Bay in 2024-25, which made it his second straight campaign of at least 20 goals and 40 points. While Paul is out, Zemgus Girgensons might be moved up to the third line, which creates an opening on the fourth unit. Jakob Pelletier, Boris Katchouk and Mitchell Chaffee should be among those competing for that vacancy with Chaffee being the most likely to win the job.