Photo by Ailura, CC BY-SA 3.0 at
Erik Cernak
Tampa Bay Lightning Defense #81
502 games, 26 goals, and 79 per cent of his shots from beyond 40 feet.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | TBL | 58 | 5 | 11 | 16 | +25 | 58 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 107 | 4.7 | 19:15 |
| 2019-20 | TBL | 67 | 5 | 7 | 12 | +11 | 59 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 125 | 4.0 | 18:57 |
| 2020-21 | TBL | 46 | 5 | 13 | 18 | +8 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85 | 5.9 | 19:47 |
| 2021-22 | TBL | 55 | 1 | 12 | 13 | +7 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 1.2 | 19:09 |
| 2022-23 | TBL | 70 | 2 | 14 | 16 | +8 | 53 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 87 | 2.3 | 19:14 |
| 2023-24 | TBL | 69 | 2 | 11 | 13 | +5 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 3.8 | 19:11 |
| 2024-25 | TBL | 76 | 3 | 18 | 21 | +29 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 4.7 | 18:16 |
| 2025-26 | TBL | 61 | 3 | 8 | 11 | +3 | 74 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 53 | 5.7 | 17:37 |
| 2026-27 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 502 | 26 | 94 | 120 | +96 | 441 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 660 | 3.9 | 18:53 |
This Season So Far
The 2026-27 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
3 goals and 8 assists in 61 games — 11 points, plus-3, at 17:37 a night with 74 penalty minutes. 21 games missed.
The Finesse Game
None. 80 unblocked attempts from a median of 54 feet, 79 per cent from beyond 40, 13 per cent from inside 20, 3 goals.
26 goals in 502 career games. 8 assists in 61 games is near the bottom of this edition and nobody has ever asked him for more.
The Physical Game
6-4 and 230 pounds, and among the heaviest hitters in the league. 74 penalty minutes.
He clears his crease violently, defends the front of his net better than almost anybody, and has a long injury record that comes from the way he plays.
The Intangibles
52.0 per cent of the expected goals, 70th percentile, against only 49.6 per cent of the shot attempts, 53rd, across 897 minutes — with the goals 36 for and 41 against.
That gap between chance share and attempt share is the whole argument for a defenceman of this type: the shots against come, and they come from the outside.
2 points in his last 10, both goals. He is 29, 2 Stanley Cups, and the sort of player whose value shows up in a 7-game series and nowhere in a scoring summary.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2025-26 · 897 minutes
- Expected goals
- 52%
- 70th pct
- Shot attempts
- 48.8%
- 44th pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 36 for, 41 against. Expected: 35.4 and 32.6.
The eye and the numbers
SightedThe numbers rank him 37 points above where the report does. It was written with these numbers on screen and departs from them anyway, which makes the gap a judgment rather than an oversight. Why the numbers land there sets out the club he did it on, the minutes he played and the men he played them with.
Both bars are percentiles among the 656 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 69 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Tracked
NHL Edge, 2025-26 · 61 games
- Top speed
- 22.2 mph
- 73rd pct
- Bursts over 20 mph
- 0.66 a game
- Distance
- 2.50 miles a game
- Hardest shot
- 87.4 mph
- 33rd pct
fastest he was clocked all season; the league's average best is 21.6
how often he reaches that speed, not how fast he goes
skated, all strengths
one shot; the league's average best is 88.9
A top speed is a season's best, and a man who takes more shifts gets more tries at one; the percentile is the feed's own, against every skater, and says less between a top-pair defenceman and a fourth-line wing than it does between two men in the same job. The counts are shown per game for the same reason.
Recent form
Last 20 appearances, 2025-26, oldest first
2
points in his last 10 games — 2 goals, 0 assists, 15 shots
Each bar is one game by points. Filled bars are games he scored in.
Usual linemates
2025-26 · 897 minutes at five-on-five
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2025-26
- The club
- TBL took 53.9% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 52.0% — 1.9 below the club he did it on.
- The role
- Third pair, 897 minutes at five-on-five — 48th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan McDonagh | 52.0% | 52.0% | 55.4% |
| Yanni Gourde | 48.1% | 54.2% | 52.4% |
| Zemgus Girgensons | 48.2% | 53.6% | 49.6% |
52.0% together, 52.0% for him apart and 55.4% for McDonagh apart. McDonagh was better away from him while his own share held, which is a mark against him more than for him.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
80 unblocked shots in 2025-26, 3 of them goals. His median goal came from 6 feet. 13% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 79% from beyond forty.