Lightning hire Pierre-Edouard Bellemare as player development specialist

A longtime NHLer is hanging up his skates, but is staying in the game.

On Thursday, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois announced that the team has hired former Lightning forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare as the organization’s new player development specialist.

Bellemare’s first role following retirement as a player will see him work under JP Cote with the franchise’s development staff, working young prospective forwards and spending time with the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.

Players rising through the organization’s ranks can learn a lot from Bellemare, who played 10 years in the NHL, making stops with the Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and Seattle Kraken before heading overseas following the 2023-24 season. In two years with the Bolts, the French native appeared in 153 regular-season games, scoring 13 goals and 33 points, posting five points across the 2022 and 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Bellemare made it to the Stanley Cup Final with the Lightning in 2022 and with the Golden Knights during their inaugural season four years prior.

In 700 regular-season NHL games, Bellemare scored 64 goals and 74 assists for 138 points, with another 15 points in 85 postseason affairs.

After his NHL tenure, Bellemare joined HC Ajoie of the National League in Switzerland. During that time, he helped France qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics. At age 40, he appeared in each of the team’s four games in Milan, scoring a goal. At the lower divisions of the IIHF Men’s World Championships, Bellemare was named a top-three player on the French roster six times.

In 2017, Bellemare was honored with the Cristobal Huet Trophy and was enshrined in the French Hockey Hall of Fame.