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Max Crozier has followed the same mantra through every chapter of his hockey career.

Day by day.

That approach helped Crozier reach the NHL, and it kept the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman positive when he had to miss eight straight games earlier this season with a lower-body injury.

In his initial return on Nov. 4 in Colorado, the defenseman played 10 minutes, 11 seconds before leaving with another injury. He was back in the lineup on Wednesday against the New York Rangers, finishing as the only Lightning player with a positive plus-minus (+1) in a 7-3 loss.

“I say it a lot, but it’s controlling what I can control, and what I can control now is my recovery, my sleep, how hard I work in the trainer's room to restabilize everything and get everything shifted into a healing process,” Crozier said after a skate during his recovery. "I think it's a great mentality to have. I've really benefited from it, especially in the last two weeks, for sure.”

Crozier began the 2025-26 season emphatically, registering three assists in the team’s first four games with the help of his first NHL multipoint game Oct. 11 against the New Jersey Devils. Now healthy, the 25-year-old rookie remains committed to establishing himself as a full-timer in Tampa Bay this season.

Tampa Bay selected the 6-foot-3 defenseman in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL Draft, and he was recalled as an option during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“Cro is young energy,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said of the defenseman earlier this month.

“He's got some swag to his game. He will play a physical game. His big thing is to now become an everyday player,” Cooper continued. "But he's proven to us, and the reason he's here, is because he's got a little snarl to his game and we like that. It's unfortunate what happened to him, but he'll find his way in and bring that energy all these new guys have kind of brought to us, so I'm looking forward to it.”

Lightning veteran defender Ryan McDonagh has noticed Crozier’s physicality, calling him an “in-your-face” defenseman with impressive mobility.

“Just steady,” McDonagh said of Crozier. “He’s definitely gaining confidence more and more in our system and what's expected of him defensively in our zone with being tough in front of the net, being physical, getting pucks out of our zone quick. And then offensively, being in the right spot, shooting, creating lanes and creating offense for us. So, I think he should feel real good about his start to the year…He’s going to be a big, important piece for us.”

When training camp opened this fall, Crozier knew there was a job available on the Lightning blue line. He knew he would have to earn that spot during the preseason, and once again his approach was to stay in the moment.

“I came into camp wanting to get on the opening day roster, and I think I did that because I went day to day,” he said. "I didn't look too far ahead, and I'm just trying to continue that on. Just live day by day, control what I can control.”

Developing a strong start

Despite only appearing in six games this season, Crozier’s three points are tied for sixth in scoring among all rookie NHL defensemen. That offense has been appreciated, but scoring has never been a primary focus for the Calgary, Alberta native.

“I pride myself on playing a simple, hard, defense-first game. But the simplicity of my game with just getting pucks to the net and not trying to do too much with the puck I think kind of allowed me to get those opportunities on the stat sheet,” Crozier said. "But it's not something I'm too worried about. Points are great, but winning is all I really care about.”

Crozier developed his game and winning mentality mostly in the American Hockey League with the Syracuse Crunch after his college career at Providence College.

Aside from appearing in 23 NHL games since being drafted, Crozier has been a key cog for the Crunch since the 2022-23 season, appearing in 110 regular season games with 13 goals, 58 points and 124 penalty minutes as well as playing 14 Calder Cup Playoff games.

Crozier believes he is a “very different” player from when he first joined the Lightning organization. He credits Tampa Bay’s development model, one that includes skating coach Barb Underhill and the Crunch coaching staff.

“I credit a lot of that to Barb and all the times that she came to Syracuse and spent with us and times in the summers that she'd travel out to Calgary. So I attribute a lot of where I'm at now to her and to the coaching staff in Syracuse. They really work to develop you, constantly going through video and having a very open communication line, which allowed me to really see the game differently. I owe a lot to that staff in Syracuse for where I'm at right now.”

Now six years after being drafted, Crozier’s name is stitched on the back of an NHL jersey. He is an NHL player—one with the same mindset he’s always carried.

“It’s been a childhood dream to play in the NHL, but when I was in college I just tried to live day by day, not look too far ahead and just control what I can control, work as hard as I can every day to try to be better than I was yesterday. That was my mentality in college,” he said.

“I didn't really foresee anything happening like this. I think this is the best case scenario. If I told my college self that this is how my life is now, I’d take it a million times over. So, yeah, I think my mentality hasn’t really changed. I think that's where my day by day mentality kind of started was at college and just really enjoying the moment and enjoying the process and having a lot of fun while I'm doing it.”

Following his injury rehabilitation and with Tampa Bay building back to its expected winning brand of hockey, Crozier looks forward to the fun continuing.

And it will, day by day.

“I could do this for the rest of my life, that’s for sure. Walking in this locker room with the amount of future Hall of Famers we have and the coaching staff on the team as well, it's pretty surreal,” Crozier said.

“It’s really, really cool, and something I'm really just trying to soak in every single day because I'm really grateful to be in this opportunity every day. Walking in this locker room with the group that we have just reminds me of how grateful I need to be.”