D · TBL · NHL id 8478416
Erik Cernak has played 1 game for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2026-27, scoring 0 goals and 0 assists (0 points) on 1 shots while averaging 16:00 a night (14:36 at even strength, 0:00 on the power play and 1:24 shorthanded). At 5v5 he has skated 79% of his 5v5 minutes with Ryan McDonagh and 38% with Jeffrey Viel in his only game so far, and the Lightning have controlled 52% of shot attempts with Cernak on the ice (0-1 in goals, 50% offensive-zone starts). In the Lightning's most recent game against NYR he was on D1 with Ryan McDonagh and off the power play.
Right now
From the Oct 1 game vs NYR, detected from shift data
- Top-four D in 1 of last 1 (was 4 of 20)
- 38% of 5v5 TOI with Hagel (was 10%)
Deployment timeline
2026-27 · per-game ice time by strength, with line and power-play unit changes
Usage: 1 games, 16:00 average time on ice, PP1 in 0 games, 0 line changes.
- Even strength
- Power play
- Penalty kill
- 5-game average
- Did not play
- ▲ promoted · ▼ demoted
NHL EDGE tracking
2025-26 percentiles among skaters at his position
Only 1 GP in 2026-27; showing 2025-26 NHL EDGE data.
Season-level NHL EDGE puck and player tracking, refreshed nightly. The percentile is the league rank among skaters this season; the label at the right is the raw value.
Shot map
2026-27 · 5 attempts, 1 on goal, 0 goals
Shot map, OPP at TBL: 5 attempts, 1 on goal, 0 goals, 0.12 expected goals; best chance Erik Cernak at 0.08 xG.
- Even strength
- Power play
- Penalty kill
- Goal
- Shot on goal
- Missed
- Blocked
Luck
2025-26 · 61 GP · 11 points vs 14.3 expected
Last 20 games: +2. Positive means running hot (sell), negative running cold (buy).
- 5.7%
- 99.5
- 23.9%
- G vs xG
- 3 / 2.5
- • Role rose over the last 10 games (2 promotion events): some of the heat may be real.
- • Shot diet improved: 0.041 xG per attempt lately vs 0.030 before (more from the slot).
- Actual goals
- Expected
- ±1σ
- Above expected
- Below expected
Player analytics
Compare with another player →2025-26 regular season. Rank is among all qualified players; the bar is his percentile among defencemen. Each stat links to its explainer.
- 2026-27 so far: 1 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PPP, 1 SOG.
Fantasy box score
- Games played61
- Goals3525th of 715
- Assists8513th of 715
- Points11548th of 715
- Power-play points0437th of 715
- Shorthanded points1111th of 715
- Shots on goal53535th of 715
- Hits112144th of 715
- Blocked shots9984th of 715
- Plus/minus+3233rd of 715
- Penalty minutes7437th of 715
- Faceoffs won0451st of 715
Possession & shot quality (5-on-5 on-ice)
- Corsi (CF%)49.0%387th of 719
- Fenwick (FF%)48.8%411th of 719
- Expected goals (xGF%)50.9%278th of 719
- Sequence xG (sxGF%)50.8%287th of 719
- High-danger chances (HDCF%)54.8%127th of 719
- Scoring chances (SCF%)51.5%236th of 719
Transition, turnovers & faceoffs
- Transition attempts /600.41553rd of 719
- Turnover Ledger /60−0.055449th of 719
- Forecheck xG /60 (on-ice)0.28377th of 719
Usage
- Ice time per game17:37254th of 715
- Power-play time per game0:03563rd of 715
- Offensive-zone start %38.4%606th of 719
Special teams & discipline
- Net penalties drawn /60−1.51706th of 719
Luck & trend
- On-ice PDO995390th of 719
- Goals above expected+0.5255th of 715
- Luck Meter−9447th of 828
- Ascension score52172nd of 526
NHL EDGE tracking
- Top skating speed22.2376th of 715
- 20+ mph bursts40462nd of 715
- Hardest shot87.4396th of 715
- Offensive-zone time39.3%603rd of 715
Unranked rows are below the sample minimum (20 GP, 200 five-on-five minutes, 100 draws or 10 goalie games).
Beyond the box score
2025-26 regular season · 59 of 61 games through the sequence engine (more fill in as games are reprocessed)
- −0.055
- Season net
- −0.80xG
5-on-5. Each takeaway is credited, and each giveaway charged, at the league xG value of the zone.
- Per 60
- 0.41
- Attempts
- 6
- 0.016
5-on-5 shots within 10 seconds of winning the puck outside the offensive zone.
Role changes
Notable promotions, demotions and ice-time swings from Line Watch
- Moved up to D1 from D3Apr 25, 2024 alerts →
- Moved up to D1 from D2Nov 22, 2023 alerts →
- Moved up to D1 from D3Oct 21, 2023 alerts →
- Moved down to D3 from D1Jun 22, 2022 alerts →
- Played 12:04 less than his 5-game averageJun 22, 2022 alerts →
How the goals happened
9 goals since 2023-24 with NHL EDGE tracking: press Replay to watch the tracking animation
| Game | Play | Entry | Passes | Shot mph | Notes | Replay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 13, 2026 vs DET | Forecheck turnover | — | 0 | 32.9 | — | |
| Mar 24, 2026 vs MIN | Dump and chase | dump | 1 | 40.5 | — | |
| Feb 5, 2026 vs FLA | Rebound | — | 0 | 8.1 | rebound | |
| Apr 28, 2025 @ FLA | Rush | loose | 0 | 41.2 | — | |
| Feb 27, 2025 vs CGY | Rush | pass | 1* | 62.1 | — | |
| Feb 8, 2025 @ DET | Rush | carry | 1 | 68.5 | — | |
| Feb 6, 2025 vs OTT | Deflection | — | 0 | 35.4 | deflection | |
| Apr 15, 2024 vs BUF | Forecheck turnover | — | 1 | 75.9 | one-timer | |
| Feb 13, 2024 @ BOS | Rush | carry | 1* | 20.2 | — |
* includes a royal-road (cross-slot) pass. Derived from NHL EDGE puck and player tracking.
Linemates
2026-27 · 5v5 time together and how each pairing performs with and without Cernak
| Teammate | Pos | GP | Share | CF% together | GF% together | CF% Cernak apart | CF% mate apart | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan McDonagh | D | 1 | 11:26 | 79% | 71.4% | 0% (0-1) | 14.3% 3:06 | 75.0% 2:03 |
| Jeffrey Viel | LW | 1 | 5:35 | 38% | 50.0% | 0% (0-1) | 53.8% 8:57 | 46.2% 3:14 |
| Brandon Hagel | LW | 1 | 5:34 | 38% | 66.7% | — (0-0) | 46.7% 8:58 | 76.9% 5:55 |
| Anthony Cirelli | C | 1 | 5:27 | 38% | 50.0% | — (0-0) | 53.3% 9:05 | 76.9% 6:35 |
| Pontus Holmberg | RW | 1 | 4:55 | 34% | 55.6% | — (0-0) | 50.0% 9:37 | 41.2% 6:44 |
| Jake Guentzel | C | 1 | 4:34 | 31% | 50.0% | — (0-0) | 52.9% 9:58 | 71.4% 6:31 |
| Conor Geekie | C | 1 | 4:25 | 30% | 62.5% | — (0-0) | 46.2% 10:07 | 22.2% 4:46 |
| Gage Goncalves | C | 1 | 3:31 | 24% | 42.9% | — (0-0) | 57.1% 11:01 | 25.0% 5:15 |
| Jansen Harkins | C | 1 | 3:10 | 22% | 50.0% | 0% (0-1) | 53.3% 11:22 | 25.0% 6:51 |
| Zemgus Girgensons | C | 1 | 3:04 | 21% | 60.0% | — (0-0) | 50.0% 11:28 | 50.0% 3:58 |
| Ilya Mikheyev | RW | 1 | 2:42 | 19% | 25.0% | 0% (0-1) | 58.8% 11:50 | 52.4% 7:40 |
| Victor Hedman | D | 1 | 1:55 | 13% | 20.0% | — (0-0) | 62.5% 12:37 | 46.2% 11:43 |
Linemate and opposition quality
2025-26 · 5v5 · 877 min on ice · ranked against 270 defencemen · last season, until this season has enough games to rank
teammates' average xGF%
87th percentile · higher = stronger linemates
opponents' average ice-time share
71st percentile · higher = faces more top-line minutes
Top-line role: strong linemates against the other team's best.
QoT averages the season xGF% of Cernak's 5v5 teammates; QoC averages how much of their team's ice time Cernak's opponents get, so a high QoC means facing top lines. Both are weighted by time shared on the ice, lean on last season for small samples, and are ranked within forwards or defence.
Game log
1 game in 2026-27, newest first
| Date | Opp | Result | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | HIT | BLK | EV | PP | PK | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1 | @ NYR | L 1-5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 16:00 | 14:36 | — | 1:24 |
Season splits by strength
2026-27 regular season · on-ice numbers from shift and play-by-play data
| Strength | GP | TOI/GP | SA | GF | GA | GF% | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All situations | 1 | 16:00 | 16:00 | 12 | 11 | 52.2% | 45.5% | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0.4 | 0.4 | 33% |
| Even strength | 1 | 14:36 | 14:36 | 11 | 10 | 52.4% | 50.0% | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0.4 | 0.3 | 50% |
| 5v5 | 1 | 14:32 | 14:32 | 11 | 10 | 52.4% | 50.0% | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0.4 | 0.3 | 50% |
| Penalty kill | 1 | 1:24 | 1:24 | 1 | 1 | 50.0% | 0.0% | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0% |
Career by season
Seasons in Edgehalla's data (2025-26 is being backfilled; earlier seasons follow)
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | HIT | BLK | TOI/GP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | TBL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 0.0% | 5 | 0 | 16:00 |
| 2025-26Playoffs | TBL | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 2 | 6 | 0.0% | 12 | 11 | 19:28 |
| 2025-26 | TBL | 61 | 3 | 8 | 11 | +3 | 74 | 53 | 5.7% | 112 | 99 | 17:37 |
| 2024-25Playoffs | TBL | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 4 | 14 | 7.1% | 15 | 7 | 17:56 |
| 2024-25 | TBL | 76 | 3 | 18 | 21 | +29 | 50 | 64 | 4.7% | 157 | 99 | 18:16 |
| 2023-24Playoffs | TBL | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.0% | 24 | 7 | 20:39 |
| 2023-24 | TBL | 69 | 2 | 11 | 13 | +5 | 63 | 53 | 3.8% | 198 | 109 | 19:11 |
| 2022-23Playoffs | TBL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0.0% | 1 | 3 | 9:27 |
| 2022-23 | TBL | 70 | 2 | 14 | 16 | +8 | 53 | 87 | 2.3% | 209 | 100 | 19:14 |
| 2021-22Playoffs | TBL | 23 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +1 | 12 | 22 | 4.5% | 84 | 45 | 19:20 |
| 2021-22 | TBL | 55 | 1 | 12 | 13 | +7 | 46 | 86 | 1.2% | 165 | 73 | 19:09 |
| 2020-21Playoffs | TBL | 21 | 1 | 9 | 10 | +12 | 16 | 36 | 2.8% | 65 | 26 | 19:57 |
| 2020-21 | TBL | 46 | 5 | 13 | 18 | +8 | 38 | 85 | 5.9% | 98 | 46 | 19:47 |
| 2019-20 | TBL | 67 | 5 | 7 | 12 | +11 | 59 | 125 | 4.0% | 172 | 97 | 18:57 |
| 2018-19Playoffs | TBL | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -2 | 0 | 7 | 0.0% | 12 | 1 | 21:29 |
| 2018-19 | TBL | 58 | 5 | 11 | 16 | +25 | 58 | 107 | 4.7% | 198 | 79 | 19:15 |
Erik Cernak news
- Erik Cernak | Training Camp 9.28.26NHL.com
- Erik Cernak | Pregame vs Florida PanthersNHL.com
- Erik Cernak HomeNHL.com
- Erik Cernak Bio, Awards & Draft InfoNHL.com
- Most Valuable Tampa Bay Lightning PlayersThe Hockey Writers
- Jakub Dobes Pushes Nikita Kucherov & Erik Cernak Fight | Canadiens Vs Lightning 2026 Highlights (vmfjl9AHeu)fathomjournal.org
- Erik Cernak | Pregame ECQF Game 6 at MontrealNHL.com
- Erik Cernak | 4.25.26NHL.com
Headlines via LineupExperts. Links open the original publisher.
On-ice and deployment numbers are derived by Edgehalla from NHL play-by-play and shift data. Tracking percentiles are from NHL EDGE. Data updates after every game.