The Lightning are picking up forward Pontus Holmberg after he went unqualified by the Maple Leafs yesterday, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. It’s a two-year deal worth $1.55MM per season, per Darren Dreger of TSN.
As expected, the Lightning are operating on the fringes of this year’s free agent market. In Holmberg, they have added a candidate with low risk and low reward, who can be easily placed in their bottom six.
Tampa Bay’s front office appears to value Holmberg’s potential for lineup flexibility. He’ll likely slot into a third or fourth‑line role, bringing speed at even strength and depth on the penalty kill. Despite scoring a lowly 19 goals and 49 points through 159 career contests, Holmberg averaged a 92.0% on-ice save percentage at even strength with Toronto.
The Lightning came into the offseason with a mandate to build up the team’s bottom-six, and adding Holmberg certainly helps. It’s an open debate whether he’s earned a consistent spot on the roster over a player like Mitchell Chaffee, but Holmberg could replace him if necessary.
Should Holmberg fail to capitalize during his new two-year agreement with the Lightning, it very well could spell the end of his playing career in North America. It likely wouldn’t take him long to find a landing spot overseas, as Holmberg spent much of his professional career with the SHL’s Växjö Lakers HC before coming to the Maple Leafs organization.
PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article.
Atlantic teams all signing retreads trying (in vain) to come up with an answer to the two time Stanley Cup champion Panthers. Talk about Mission Impossible without a Tom Cruise in sight!
It’s called the cap bud. Lightning can’t really do anything big or splashy. But I wouldn’t expect Panthers fans to know any better.
So then you are accepting of the fact that the Lightning have no answer for the champs.
Pontus Holmberg does bring flexibility to the lineup in the bottom six along with speed and PK depth. His on-ice save percentage at even strength at a 92% is quite good (didn’t know that originally). He has potential to be a nice depth piece for Tampa.
The article mentions that Holmberg and Chaffee are practically competing for a spot in the lineup but truth be told, both deserve a spot easily over Zemgus Girgensons who provides very little outside of the PK and some physicality. Honestly, Zemgus is dead weight overall IMO. We’ll see what happens and how Holmberg is deployed in Tampa.