Free agency is less than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Lightning.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Gage Goncalves – Even on a relatively deep Lightning team, Goncalves successfully parlayed an impressive run with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch into a full-time role at the NHL level. From 2022 to 2024, Goncalves scored 26 goals and 112 points in 140 AHL contests, with another four goals and 11 points in 12 postseason contests. This gave Tampa Bay the confidence to allow Goncalves a longer-term opportunity at the NHL level, and his tryout proved successful by all accounts. Goncalves scored eight goals and 20 points in 60 games for the Lightning while averaging 12:48 of ice time per night, and achieved a 92.0% on-ice save percentage at even strength. Given the roster flexibility he affords and arbitration eligibility status, Goncalves should earn a healthy bump on his $775K salary from last year, but it’ll likely be less than double.
Other RFAs: F Jaydon Dureau, F Ryder Korczak, F Waltteri Merela, G Hugo Alnefelt
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
D Nicklaus Perbix – Over the last three years, Perbix has scored 13 goals and 63 points in 220 regular-season contests, with a 51.2% CorsiFor% at even strength, and a 91.0% on-ice save percentage. This is a quality value for a defenseman who has averaged less than 16 minutes of ice time per game and has been playing on a $1.125MM AAV for the last two seasons. Unfortunately, his performance might have made it too expensive for him to continue with Tampa Bay. AFP Analytics projects Perbix to command a two-year, $5.2MM contract this offseason, which would take up almost 75% of the Lightning’s available cap space. Ultimately, the team will likely look for a cheaper right-handed option to fill in the gap or use a combination of Steven Santini and Maxwell Crozier next season.
F Luke Glendening – The University of Michigan alumnus may no longer have the capacity to score 20 points a year, nor is he in danger of receiving fringe votes for the Selke Trophy, but Glendening still holds value in a niche role. He remains one of the most effective faceoff takers in the league, winning 56.5% of his 1,829 draws taken with the Lightning. Given that he started 66.7% of his shifts in the defensive zone with Tampa Bay, Glendening ultimately gave the Lightning a better chance to retain possession and have an effective breakout. Still, even without the same faceoff talent, there may be better options available for Tampa Bay this offseason, at a similar league-minimum salary.
Other UFAs: F Cam Atkinson, F Anthony Angello, F Logan Brown, F Gabriel Fortier, D Derrick Pouliot, D Tobie Paquette-Bisson, G Matt Tomkins
Projected Cap Space
As alluded to earlier when talking about Perbix, the Lightning will again be limited by the salary cap this summer. Although there are no expectations this offseason, it is important to remember that Tampa Bay faced a similar situation last offseason and successfully acquired and signed the market’s top unrestricted free agent, Jake Guentzel. General Manager Julien BriseBois has shown time and time again that the Lightning can never truly be counted out of any available player, and it’ll be another interesting study to see how he weaponizes Tampa Bay’s projected $3.4MM in cap space this summer.
There are some pretty annoying Lightning fans on this site, so I will try to redeem our fanbase. If I insult you and you insult me back, I’ll try to find the strength not to be a wimp and block you.
Anyway, the last section of this article is erroneous, we will just cheat and circumvent the cap anyway. Lucky for us we have amassed FOUR seventh round picks in the upcoming draft (Read em and weep, boys!!) Sure, we don’t have any first rounders for the next half decade, but who really needs those anyway? Plus, Jeannot is a free agent so we can get him for free this time, tho I think he will need a HUGE raise, so I think we should get rid of the washed-up-Kucherov. I follow him around town all the time and he always ignores me, so I’m done with him. Either way we will still choke in the playoffs against the Kitties for the fifth time in a row since we are scared of them and our team is clearly on the downward slope of the hill to the top. HOWEVER, since there is no precedent of a team winning it big, using all of their top picks for dumb trades, and then fading off into the sunset, I think our treasure trove of seventh rounders will bring us back to glory by the 26-27 season.
P.S. Does anyone know if Thunder and Lightning are the same thing? Asking for a friend.
Thunder is the sound and lighting is the visual. ;)
Wow! I think we are about to see an epic rant in the near future. I have my popcorn and beverage waiting
@Static Electricity – I guess this was supposed to be some form of satire of sorts (a bad one at that, keep your day job). I don’t mind good humor but reading this was like watching a Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer film. I’m sure you’ll need to look them up (you don’t appear that well-verse) since you don’t know even know thunder & lightning are not the same thing.
Omg he took the bait.
@Pyramaid – lol calm down mate.
Probably blocked him already too
McDavid to Tampa?
Tampa will have around $30M in cap space next summer. So if Connor McDavid hits the open market, Tampa will surely be one of the teams in the running for him as he knows Jon Cooper, GM Julien BriseBois, & a number of the players on Tampa already. It could be a potential destination but only time will tell.