A Reflection on Alex Killorn’s Tampa Bay Lightning Career

On Saturday, it was announced that long time Tampa Bay Lightning left winger Alex Killorn was leaving for the Anaheim Ducks on a four-year deal. It will be the first time in another organization than Tampa Bay in his long career.

He is one of many Tampa Bay players depart for other teams in free agency including Ian Cole, Corey Perry, Brian Elliott, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. Pat Maroon and Ross Colton have had to be moved via trade as well, indicating the Lightning will look much different next season.

Killorn was originally picked in the 3rd round in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft with the 77th overall pick by the Lightning.

Killorn was a member of the 2011-12 Calder Cup winning Norfolk Admirals, who at the time were Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate before the Syracuse Crunch. He won that title with future Lightning teammates Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson.

Killorn has been with the Tampa Bay Lightning at the NHL level since the 2012-13 season meaning he spent 11 long years with the Bolts playing hockey.

In his career, he amassed a total of 466 points (198 goals and 268 assists) and also had 34 game-winning goals with the Lightning. He is top ten in Lightning history for all three of those career numbers.

His 805 career games played with Tampa Bay is the fifth most in franchise history. 

Arguably his most impressive stat came during the 2019-20 season. It was during the first of his two cup winning seasons with the Bolts, he had an insane shooting percentage of 20%, which at the time led the entire league.

Many consider Killorn to be one of the core pieces to the Lightning’s back-to-back cup titles in 2020 and 2021. He was a faithful player who stuck by Tampa Bay hockey for a long time.

In his 11-year span with the Bolts, the team missed the playoffs just twice. In six of those seasons he was with the Lightning, they made the eastern conference final. He also played in five full 82-game seasons. He would have played in more if not for having two shortened seasons due to the pandemic.

Killorn was a big part in bringing success to the Tampa Bay organization. It is a hard thing to realize that he will no longer be in blue and white but one thing is for certain. The Anaheim Ducks have a player in their organization who can make an impact right off the bat towards making a winning culture.