In a joint announcement from the NHL and NHLPA on October 6, 2020, a target date of January 1, 2021 was set for the start of the season.
The Lightning's off-season began after the team captured its second Stanley Cup in franchise history in a 4–2 series win over the Dallas Stars.
[7] Later in the evening, the Lightning announced that it had issued qualifying offers to Anthony Cirelli, Erik Cernak, Ross Colton, Mathieu Joseph, Dominik Masin, Mikhail Sergachev, Ben Thomas and Alex Volkov.
Thomas had been playing for the Syracuse Crunch for the past four seasons, during which time he appeared in over 200 career games.
Since coming over to the Lightning via trade, Sergachev produced three straight seasons of more than 30 points and helped the franchise to its second Stanley Cup.
[21] On December 13, 2020, the Lightning announced the signing of another 2020 NHL draft pick, center Gage Goncalves, to a three-year entry-level contract.
Rutta also plated in six playoff games, recording a lone assist during the Lightning's Stanley Cup run.
[27] On December 27, 2020, the Lightning announced that it had traded Braydon Coburn, Cedric Paquette and their 2021 second-round draft pick to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Anders Nilsson and Marian Gaborik.
[28] On January 1, 2021, the Lightning announced its training camp roster for the 2020–21 season, which consisted of 25 forwards, 14 defensemen and 4 goaltenders.
[29] The notable absence from the roster was forward Nikita Kucherov, who was to miss at least all of the regular season after having hip surgery, with optimism that he would return to action in the playoffs.
[30] The forward roster consists of Alex Barre-Boulet, Anthony Cirelli, Ross Colton, Blake Coleman, Jack Finley, Gage Goncalves, Barclay Goodrow, Yanni Gourde, Jimmy Huntington, Tyler Johnson, Mathieu Joseph, Boris Katchouk, Alex Killorn, Ryan Lohin, Patrick Maroon, Boo Nieves, Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point, Taylor Raddysh, Gemel Smith, Steven Stamkos, Mitchell Stephens, Alexander Volkov and Daniel Walcott.
The defensemen group consisted of Andreas Borgman, Erik Cernak, Sean Day, Cal Foote, Alex Green, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh Jan Rutta, Luke Schenn, Dmitry Semykin, Mikhail Sergachev, Devante Stephens, Ben Thomas and Luke Witkowski.
The goaltending group consisted of Christopher Gibson, Spencer Martin, Curtis McElhinney and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning placed Spencer Martin, Daniel Walcott and Luke Witkowski on waivers for purposes of assignment to Syracuse.
[33] The Lightning also announced that it had placed Andreas Borgman, Christopher Gibson, Tyler Johnson, Luke Schenn, Gemel Smith and Ben Thomas on waivers.
[37][38] After completing these moves, the team set-up its opening night roster: forwards Anthony Cirelli, Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, Yanni Gourde, Mathieu Joseph, Alex Killorn, Patrick Maroon, Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos, Mitchell Stephens and Alexander Volkov; defensemen Erik Cernak, Cal Foote, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Jan Rutta and Mikhail Sergachev; and goaltenders Andrei Vasilevskiy and Curtis McElhinney.
[39] The taxi squad roster consisted of Tyler Johnson (C), Gemel Smith (C), Luke Schenn (RD), Andreas Borgman (LD), Ben Thomas (RD) and Christopher Gibson (G).
[39] Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois stated that Johnson would be added to the active roster after the first game due to cap reasons.
[40] Due to the timing of his signing, Boo Nieves was unable to be assigned to the taxi squad until after the first game.
Below are the Tampa Bay Lightning's selections at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on October 6 and 7, 2020, via video conference call due to the COVID-19 pandemic.