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Nikolaj Ehlers Expected To Sign Today

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July 2: Ehlers’ stay on the open market isn’t expected to last more than a few more hours. He’s down to a few teams and will make his decision at some point Wednesday, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic says.

July 1: Entering today, the top free agent on the board was now-former Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers. He’s due for a big payday after teams looking to land an impact winger in the form of Mitch Marner, who’s off to Vegas in a sign-and-trade, or Brock Boeser, who’s staying in Vancouver on a seven-year deal, failed.

Many pegged Carolina as the favorite to land Ehlers entering today. They’ll certainly have more competition now with other teams looking to circle back and regroup after their day-one activities, but they still have immense spending flexibility with $19MM in cap space and no other moves to make, even after today’s pickup of K’Andre Miller.

As Ehlers likely takes another day – maybe even longer – to mull offers, the Hurricanes did confirm they’ve been in contact with Ehlers’ camp and are “waiting to see where that goes,” general manager Eric Tulsky told reporters Tuesday evening (including the team’s Walt Ruff). ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported earlier in the day that the Capitals and Lightning were also in contact with Ehlers’ camp, but nothing will be imminent until tomorrow at the soonest.

Ehlers would really need to prefer going to Tampa or Washington to make that a reality. Neither has the cap space to pay him his market value, surely over $8MM per season at this stage on a seven-year deal, and would need to make corresponding moves to make him fit in. Carolina has both a pressing need for him, a system that plays to his analytically inclined game, and the cap space to address his financial needs out of the gate.

Beyond that, his list of realistic destinations might be limited. There will be other teams like the Maple Leafs who may want to create room and add him as an impact top-line piece in the absence of Marner.

Still, Toronto – or any other Canadian team, for that matter – is likely not on Ehlers’ radar, considering his newfound ability to be picky about where he ends up thanks to how the market broke in his favor. He prefers a warmer and less intense market than Winnipeg, Frank Seravalli said on today’s coverage of free agency from B/R Open Ice.

Lightning Sign Jakob Pelletier To Three-Year Contract

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8:48 a.m.: The signing is official, according to a press release from the Lightning.

7:35 a.m.: The Lightning have signed winger Jakob Pelletier to a three-year contract, Renaud Lavoie of TVA reported overnight. It’s a two-way deal in 2025-26, followed by a one-way structure in 2026-27 and 2027-28. He’ll earn a base salary of $775K, $850K, and $900K in each respective season for a total value of $2.525MM and a cap hit of $841,667.

Pelletier, a first-round pick of the Flames in 2019, started last season in the AHL after clearing waivers. He received his first recall of the season in early December and remained on the NHL roster for the next two months aside from a few paper transactions, making 24 appearances to tie his previous career-high with the Flames in 2022-23.

In that span, it looked like the Quebec City native was finally getting his feet under him after an injury-riddled development path. While he wasn’t commanding top-six ice time, he did still notch four goals, seven assists, 11 points, and a +10 rating for Calgary – a 38-point pace over a full season. Nonetheless, they traded him to the Flyers in late January in the deal that brought Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost to the Flames.

The trade halted Pelletier’s offensive momentum. The feisty 5’9″ lefty only managed three goals, five assists, and eight points in 25 appearances for Philadelphia to end the season and was an occasional healthy scratch. He totaled seven goals, 12 assists, and 19 points in 47 games on the year while averaging 11:33 per game. He was owed a qualifying offer of $840K on a two-way deal that the Flyers decided they didn’t want to give him, cutting him loose on Monday and making him an unrestricted free agent.

The 24-year-old has an 11-18–29 scoring line with a plus-three rating in 86 NHL appearances for the Flames and Flyers over the last three seasons. He also had three goals, 16 assists, and 19 points in 20 games for AHL Calgary last year. The Lightning giving him three years of term acts as an effective deterrent to waiver claims, though, so they’d have that option to try to send him to AHL Syracuse without a ton of risk. Considering they already have 12 forwards on one-way deals for this year, plus top prospect Conor Geekie looking for more NHL ice time, he faces an uphill battle for a roster spot.

Two-Way Deals: 7/1/25

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As major signings come in around the NHL today with the 2025-26 league year beginning, teams are shoring up their minor-league depth as well by signing players to two-way contracts. We’re keeping track of those signings today in this article, which will be continuously updated. Deals are one year unless otherwise noted.

Boston Bruins

F Riley Tufte ($775K NHL) – Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub
D Jonathan Aspirot ($775K NHL) – Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub
G Luke Cavallin ($775K NHL) – Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub

Buffalo Sabres

F Riley Fiddler-Schultz ($865K NHL/$90K SB/$35K PB/$85K AHL) – PuckPedia // two years, entry-level
F Carson Meyer ($775K NHL/$350K AHL Y1 – $375K AHL Y2) – PuckPedia // two years
D Mason Geertsen ($775K NHL/$425K AHL) – Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet // two years
D Zachary Jones ($900K NHL/$550K AHL) – PuckPedia
D Zach Metsa ($775K NHL/$250K AHL/$325K gt’d) – PuckPedia

Calgary Flames

D Nick Cicek ($775K NHL) – team release

Carolina Hurricanes

G Amir Miftakhov ($775K NHL/$100K AHL/$240K gt’d) – PuckPedia

Chicago Blackhawks

F Dominic Toninato ($850K NHL) – team release // two years

Colorado Avalanche

F T.J. Tynan (unknown) – team release
D Jack Ahcan (unknown) – team release
D Ronald Attard ($775K NHL/$450K AHL/$500K gt’d) – PuckPedia

Columbus Blue Jackets

F Owen Sillinger (unknown) – team release
D Christian Jaros (unknown) – team release

Dallas Stars

D Niilopekka Muhonen (unknown) – team release // three years, entry-level

Edmonton Oilers

D Riley Stillman ($775K NHL/$475K AHL) – PuckPedia // two years
G Matt Tomkins ($775K NHL/$400K AHL/$450 Y2 gt’d) – PuckPedia // two years

Florida Panthers

F Nolan Foote ($775K NHL/$150K AHL/$250K gt’d) – PuckPedia
F Jack Studnicka ($775K NHL/$450K AHL) – Chris Johnston of TSN/The Athletic
G Brandon Bussi ($775K NHL/$400K AHL) – PuckPedia
G Kirill Gerasimyuk (unknown) – team release // two years, entry-level

Los Angeles Kings

F Cole Guttman ($775K NHL/$450K Y1 – $475K Y2 AHL/$475K gt’d Y1 – $500K gt’d Y2) – PuckPedia // two years

Minnesota Wild

F Tyler Pitlick ($775K NHL/$300K Y1 – $350K Y2 AHL/$325K gt’d Y1 – $375K gt’d Y2) – PuckPedia // two years
D Ben Gleason ($800K NHL/$475K AHL) – PuckPedia

Montreal Canadiens

F Alex Belzile (unknown) – team release
D Nathan Clurman ($775K NHL/$125K AHL/$140K gt’d) – PuckPedia

New Jersey Devils

D Calen Addison ($775K NHL/$325K AHL/$400K gt’d) – PuckPedia
F Angus Crookshank ($775K NHL/$425K AHL/$475K gt’d) – PuckPedia // two years, one-way in 2026-27

New York Islanders

F Matthew Highmore (unknown) – team release
D Ethan Bear ($775K NHL/$325K AHL/$425K gt’d) – PuckPedia
D Cole McWard (unknown) – team release

New York Rangers

D Derrick Pouliot ($775K NHL/$400K AHL/$425K gt’d Y1 – $450K gt’d Y2) – PuckPedia // two years

Ottawa Senators

F Wyatt Bongiovanni ($775K NHL/$160K AHL) – PuckPedia
F Olle Lycksell ($775K NHL/$450K AHL/$500K gt’d) – Darren Dreger of TSN

Philadelphia Flyers

F Lane Pederson ($775K NHL/$525K AHL) – PuckPedia

San Jose Sharks

F Jimmy Huntington (unknown) – team release
F Samuel Laberge (unknown) – team release
F Colin White ($775K NHL/$425K AHL/$475K gt’d) – PuckPedia
D Cole Clayton (unknown) – team release

St. Louis Blues

F Matt Luff ($775K NHL/$400K AHL) – PuckPedia

Tampa Bay Lightning

F Nicholas Abruzzese (unknown) – team release
F Tristan Allard (unknown) – team release // two years, entry-level
F Boris Katchouk (unknown) – team release
D Simon Lundmark ($775K NHL/$250K AHL/$350K gt’d) – PuckPedia // two years
G Ryan Fanti ($775K NHL/$80K AHL) – PuckPedia

Utah Mammoth

F Kailer Yamamoto ($775K NHL/$500K AHL) – PuckPedia
D Scott Perunovich ($775K NHL/$400K AHL/$500K gt’d) – PuckPedia

Vancouver Canucks

F Joseph LaBate ($775K NHL/$350K AHL) – PuckPedia
F Mackenzie MacEachern ($775K NHL/$575K AHL) – PuckPedia // two years
D Jimmy Schuldt ($775K NHL/$500K AHL) – PuckPedia // two years

Winnipeg Jets

F Phillip Di Giuseppe ($775K NHL/$450K AHL) – PuckPedia
D Kale Clague (unknown) – Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet

Lightning To Sign Pontus Holmberg To Two-Year Deal

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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. 

Lightning Re-Sign Gage Goncalves To Two-Year Contract

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According to a team announcement, the Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed restricted free agent forward Gage Goncalves to a two-year, $2.4MM contract, with an AAV of $1.2MM.

Goncalves did well in his first real opportunity with the Lightning last season. Typically in a bottom-six role, Goncalves scored eight goals and 20 points in 60 contests, averaging 12:48 of ice time per game. Even in limited action and ice time, Goncalves’ physicality came through, finishing eighth on the team in hits with 71 checks.

A natural winger, he’s expected to remain in a similar role with the Lightning next season, making this a fair contract for both sides. Goncalves could theoretically move up the lineup in case of injury. Still, he doesn’t represent a better option than any of Tampa Bay’s other available wingers when the team is healthy.

Fortunately for the Lightning, the deal will keep Goncalves in Florida until his age-26 season, and they’ll still have another year of team control when Goncalves becomes a restricted free agent after the 2026-27 season. He’ll become eligible for arbitration when that time comes.

Given their lack of available cap space this offseason, the best path forward for the Lightning was retaining Goncalves, rather than finding someone to replace him in the team’s bottom six. He had fairly quality possession metrics with a 50.4% CorsiFor%, and held his own in the defensive zone with a 92.2% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article. 

Lightning, Conor Sheary To Mutually Terminate Contract

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June 30: Sheary has cleared unconditional waivers and will have his contract terminated, per Friedman.

June 29: Lightning winger Conor Sheary hit unconditional waivers Sunday after asking for a contract termination, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

While it may initially come across as a favor done by Sheary to the Lightning to not force the team to buy out the final season of his contract at a $2MM cap hit, it’s not that cut and dry. Sheary was due $1.5MM in base salary for 2025-26, which would have resulted in a $503K cap hit for the Lightning in each of the next two seasons if he was bought out. That’s barely any cap savings compared to if they buried Sheary in the minors (a cap hit of $850K), so they likely would have pursued that option instead of being on the hook for an additional season with a buyout.

Sheary, understandably, desires a chance to crack an NHL roster and wasn’t particularly amenable to that solution. Instead, he’ll walk away from $1.5MM in guaranteed money and become an unrestricted free agent while the Lightning clear his cap impact from next season’s books completely. In return, Sheary gets the chance to return to a full-time NHL role next season.

The 33-year-old has been a rare free-agent bust for Tampa general manager Julien BriseBois. He was signed to a three-year, $6MM contract in 2023 in the hopes that the diminutive winger could provide some affordable depth scoring and perhaps even flex into a top-six role. Instead, Sheary was relegated to the press box by the end of 2023-24 and spent most of this past season on assignment to AHL Syracuse after clearing waivers a few weeks into the campaign.

Sheary ends his two-year run in Tampa with a 4-11–15 scoring line in 62 games, logging a minus-five rating while averaging 11:07 of ice time per game. Only five of those appearances came this season, and he didn’t record a point in any of them. The veteran of nearly 600 NHL games took his minor-league assignments in stride and was an extremely important player for Syracuse, ranking among the AHL’s top producers with 61 points (20 G, 41 A) and a +15 rating in 59 games.

That showing demonstrated the Massachusetts native may still have the chops to be a third-line scoring piece at the NHL level, even if the fit in Tampa wasn’t a good one for whatever reason. Even with his recent poor run of production, he still averages 17 goals and 37 points per 82 games over his NHL career. That’s a resume a scoring-needy team will take a flyer on, even if he isn’t in a position to command much more than a league minimum salary. His two Stanley Cup rings with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017 will certainly help his case, too.

Once Sheary’s contract officially comes off the Lightning’s books tomorrow, the Bolts will have nearly $5.5MM in cap space with four open roster spots to fill, according to PuckPedia. Their only notable RFA to re-sign is forward Gage Goncalves, who AFP Analytics projects will land a one-year deal at $1.2MM. That leaves a roughly $4MM budget for Tuesday’s free agent frenzy, in which they’ll look to add a few depth skaters, considering no core pieces are on expiring deals.

Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.

Lightning Hitting A Roadblock In Howard Trade Talks

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It felt like the draft might have been the right time for the Lightning to move prospect Isaac Howard after the 2022 first-rounder indicated that he wouldn’t sign with Tampa Bay.  However, GM Julien BriseBois indicated to reporters including Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times that they’re at a bit of a roadblock.  While there are teams offering up a strong enough return for his services, they haven’t been able to work out a deal with Howard.  Meanwhile, teams that Howard is willing to sign with haven’t offered up enough of a return yet.  As things stand, the 21-year-old is set to return to Michigan State for his senior year and if he ultimately becomes a free agent next year, Tampa Bay would receive the 31st pick of the second round (63rd overall) as compensation.

Lightning Share Plans, Expectations For Free Agency

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are approaching July 1st with only three notable pending-free agents. That short list has made the summer easy to forecast for Bolts general manager Julien BriseBois, who broke down the team’s upcoming expectations to Diandra Loux of The Hockey News. He most notably shared that each of Cam Atkinson, Nicklaus Perbix, and Luke Glendening are expected to hit the open market on July 1st. All three players are set to become unrestricted free agents.

The season-long impact of the three names varied quite widely. Perbix served as a bottom-pair defender for 74 games of the regular season. He recorded a meager 19 points, 20 penalty minutes, and plus-eight while averaging just under 15 minutes of ice time each game. Glendening was also a nightly fixture of the Bolts lineup, stepping into 77 games as the team’s fourth-line centerman. He managed just seven points and a minus-nine on the year, but did offer a staggering 57 percent faceoff win-rate and 105 hits on the full year. Those marks were strong enough to hold down a role in Tampa Bay’s bottom-end – a sentiment that can’t be shared by 36-year-old winger Atkinson. Despite over-800 career games in the NHL, Atkinson found himself facing routine healthy scratches and assignments to the minor-leagues in the season’s second-half. He finished the year with just nine points and a minus-four in 39 NHL games.

Perbix should command a reasonable market in free agency. He’s far from the most explosive defender, but has rivaled 20 points and a positive plus-minus in each of his first three seasons in the NHL. He is only 26 years old, and could offer a new club with the prime years of his career on a new deal. While he negotiates that contract, Glendening and Atkinson will grapple with the thought of retirement. Both players turned 36 after the end of the season, and are now faced with the task of convincing a team they’re still worth depth money. Glendening could win that argument on the back of his continued faceoff wins, and physical role, but it could be an uphill battle for the undersized Atkinson. Atkinson has appeared in 13 seasons and 809 NHL Games, while Glendening has appeared in 12 seasons and 864 games.

BriseBois also shared that the team isn’t expecting to make much of a splash when the market opens up. He told Loux that they underwent a massive change last summer – swapping franchise icon Steven Stamkos for Jake Guentzel through a series of moves. The GM emphasized that teams can’t go through changes of that scale each season, which could lead to a “quiet” summer. Tampa Bay will enter July 1st with just $3.48MM in projected cap space, per PuckPedia. Without a cap-clearing move, it’s unlikely that budget is enough to swing much more than a depth contract before Tampa Bay begins thinking about a cap cushion for next season.

But while they won’t be too active on the open market, BriseBois continued by directly sharing that the Bolts do plan to re-sign defenseman Ryan McDonagh when he hits free agency in 2026. McDonagh has played through six seasons and 349 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning, as part of a career that’s spanned 15 seasons and 1,010 games. He posted an impressive 31 points, 22 penalty minutes, and league-high plus-43 while appearing in all 82 games of the 2024-25 season. It was yet another strong year for the iron-man McDonagh – who has posted at least 25 points and a high plus-minus through three of the last four seasons. McDonagh also recently turned 36 years old, but has so far shown no signs of slowing down. He averaged 19 minutes of ice time and scored three points through five postseason games. So long as he stays on course, it seems the Lightning are prepared to re-up McDonagh on a manageable and short-term deal at age-37 next summer.

Tampa Bay is set for a summer of budgeting and tough exits – but they’re changes the team should be able to turnover with a growing emergence of young prospects. Development camp could be the most notable piece of Tampa Bay’s season, as they look to maintain a roster that achieved the third-best record in the Eastern Conference last season.

Lightning Will Not Offer Extension To Cam Atkinson

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The Lightning will not pitch an extension to veteran forward Cam Atkinson, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period says. He’ll become an unrestricted free agent next week.

It’s far from surprising news. The 36-year-old became a free agent last summer after the Flyers bought out the final season of his seven-year, $41.125MM contract. He didn’t land anywhere on July 1 but was a Day 2 signing by the Lightning, agreeing to a one-year, $900K pact to try and rebuild his value following a challenging 2023-24 season.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. Atkinson got a few reps in the top six but wasn’t a good fit, and he quickly fell down the team’s depth chart. He was a frequent healthy scratch in the latter half of the campaign and even went on waivers in March to help the Lightning create some salary cap flexibility. He went unclaimed and never suited up for the team’s AHL affiliate in Syracuse, but he was assigned there on more than one occasion to boost their cap space.

Atkinson’s season ended with just 39 appearances, scoring four goals and nine points while averaging nine points per game. It’s been a tough few years for the diminutive 5’8″ winger, who missed the 2022-23 campaign with Philadelphia following offseason neck surgery. His effectiveness was slashed upon returning for 2023-24, limited to 28 points and a -22 rating in 70 games. He was still a 50-point threat pre-injury, looking good in his first season with the Flyers after acquiring him from the Blue Jackets in a one-for-one swap for Jakub Voráček.

Whether Atkinson, one of the highest-scoring players in Columbus franchise history, returns for a 14th NHL season remains to be seen. His market will be limited to league-minimum offers after his tough showing this year, likely without guaranteeing a roster spot. There might still be a fit regarding a reunion with the Blue Jackets as they round out their roster with veteran depth pieces and look to their young core to lift them back to playoff contention in 2025-26.

Lightning’s Nick Perbix Will Test Free Agency

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There will be no extension keeping Lightning defenseman Nicklaus Perbix off the open market before July 1, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. The 27-year-old will instead look to cash in as the youngest option available among a thin class of right-shot defenders.

Perbix was a sixth-round pick of the Lightning back in 2017. Tampa retained his signing rights through his post-draft season with USHL Omaha and then during a full four NCAA seasons at St. Cloud State, where he won an NCHC regular-season title as a rookie and was named a First Team conference All-Star following his standout point-per-game senior season. That was enough for the 6’4″, 205-lb rearguard to land his entry-level contract with the Bolts.

The Minnesota native has essentially been a full-time NHLer since turning pro in 2022. Aside from a brief AHL stint to make his pro debut following the end of his senior year with St. Cloud State and a pair of minor-league contests the following year, he’s been a fixture on Tampa’s roster with utility up and down the lineup.

While he’s seen deployment as high as first-pairing duties with Victor Hedman, his overall ice time has been limited because he’s played under 100 minutes on special teams units in total over his three-year career. Perbix averaged 15:45 per game with the Bolts as a result. At 5-on-5, his most common partners over the last three years were Emil Martinsen Lilleberg (919:12), Hedman (893:26), and Mikhail Sergachev (570:12), according to Natural Stat Trick. Whether due to his time spent with more skilled partners in Hedman and Sergachev or not, Perbix’s point production has been solid considering his limited even-strength minutes. He’s consistently churned out 20-25 points, avoiding major injury troubles.

Nonetheless, it makes sense that the Lightning aren’t interested in retaining Perbix. He averaged just 14:41 per game last season, making it hard to justify matching the $2.65MM per season he’s projected to receive on a two-year deal on the open market, according to AFP Analytics. He totaled a 13-50–63 scoring line with a +27 rating in 220 games as a Bolt and will likely look to land somewhere where he has more of an opportunity to play both the power play and penalty kill.

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