Lightning Place Dominic James On IR, Recall Conor Geekie
The Lightning have recalled center prospect Conor Geekie from AHL Syracuse, Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports. Fellow pivot Dominic James was placed on injured reserve to open a roster spot.
With Gage Goncalves still dealing with an undisclosed injury, the roster math indicates Geekie could step into the lineup tonight against the Wild if head coach Jon Cooper opts for a traditional 12 forward/six defenseman alignment. It would be the 21-year-old’s first NHL game since being sent to Syracuse back in October after cracking the opening night roster.
It’s fair to say the Bolts aren’t rushing Geekie’s development. Drafted 11th overall by the Coyotes in 2022 before being sent to Tampa by Utah in the Mikhail Sergachev trade, he’s made 58 NHL appearances over the past two seasons but never got much of a leash in a top-six role. He’s scored eight goals and 15 points, with only one point coming in six games earlier this year. He averages 12:05 of ice time per game. While Tampa is surely looking for more offense out of him long-term, he has been a decent physical presence near the bottom of the lineup without disastrous possession impacts.
The 6’4″, 207-lb Geekie might now get a chance to showcase that increased offense after a spectacular bulk of the season in the minors. He was quite productive as a rookie for Syracuse last season but is now clicking at over a point per game, notching 14 goals and 51 points in 47 games on one of the AHL’s most potent offenses in Syracuse. He’s tied for fourth in the entire league in scoring and is second on his club behind league leader Jakob Pelletier.
As for James, he left the Bolts’ last game on Saturday – a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Sabres – with a leg injury late in the third after getting tangled up with Buffalo’s Michael Kesselring. Cooper told reporters yesterday (including Erlendsson) that “his injury does not appear to be short-term,” although he’s still undergoing evaluation. He had goals in back-to-back games, bringing his total to seven in 43 games on the season.
Predators’ Steven Stamkos Pushes Back On Trade Interest
Feb. 27th: Stamkos himself poured cold water on the idea of him being traded before next week’s deadline. According to Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean, Stamkos said, “I haven’t talked to (GM Barry Trotz) at all about that.” Stamkos later added that there was “zero” chance he’d be willing to waive his no-movement clause. Although things could change, Stamkos’ strong rebuttal against LeBrun’s report indicates he’ll finish the season in Nashville. There was no added reporting on whether Stamkos would reassess his view this offseason.
Feb. 26th: The Nashville Predators could soon part with their biggest free agency signing in recent memory. Centerman Steven Stamkos has emerged in trade rumors, though Nashville will have to work around the future Hall-of-Famers’ full no-movement clause. As things stand, Stamkos is only prepared to accept a trade to one of three clubs – the Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, or Dallas Stars – per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.
A reunion in Tampa Bay would certainly be the most welcome outcome. Stamkos spent 16 years with the Lightning after being drafted first overall by the club in 2008. He debuted with a 46-point season in the following season, then jumped to 51 goals and 95 points in the 2009-10 season. The season was, at the time, the third-highest scoring season from a teenager in the NHL since 2000, behind Sidney Crosby’s first two seasons in the league.
Stamkos found another gear with 60 goals and 97 points two seasons later. With that, he locked in a star’s role on top of the lineup that – with sustained scoring and an exemplary supporting cast – would lead Stamkos to back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in 2020 and 2021.
Stamkos left Tampa Bay three seasons later, in one of the most coveted free agency signings of the 2000s. The move hasn’t gone to plan though, with Stamkos dwindling from 81 points in his final year in Tampa Bay to only 53 points in his first season in Nashville. Meanwhile, the Lightning have yet to fill the hole left at the center position, even deploying winger Jake Guentzel in the center role amid injury troubles. A reunion would mean a return to the top role for Stamkos, and allow Brayden Point to take a step back amid a down year.
But while Tampa Bay has stayed a top offense despite their missing piece, the Wild seem a star center shy of emerging as a super-team after trading de facto top center Marco Rossi in a package for top defender Quinn Hughes. The Wild offense could offer the mix of speed and skill to elevate a 36-year-old Stamkos, who is already scoring at a 40-goal and 63-point pace this season. Stamkos would offer a heavy shot to go with playmakers Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Mats Zuccarello.
Alternatively, Stamkos could become the next star addition to a Dallas club that acquired Mikko Rantanen ahead of the 2025 Trade Deadline. Dallas has scored the seventh-most goals in the league with Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene taking on top center duties. Adding another star hand to that mix could be enough to will Dallas back to the Stanley Cup, after three consecutive losses in the Western Conference Finals.
The Predators will need to be handsomely rewarded for departing with the player who was meant to surge the club back to the top of the standings. Future capital will be the focus of any deal, as Nashville looks to expedite a rebuild of their lineup on the back of a strong prospect pool. Teams will also need $8MM in available cap space to take on Stamkos’ deal with no retention. Of the three potential landing spots, only Minnesota could afford that price tag on the day of the Trade Deadline. Tampa Bay would need to clear out $5MM in cap space, while Dallas would need nearly $7MM in space.
The teams will have a bit of time to pull together the necessary funds, with LeBrun reporting that a deal is most likely to occur around the summer. Stamkos has two years remaining on his current contract. Still, those markers will set a tense market around Nashville’s star, veteran forward. That could leave a Stamkos trade as the top agenda item for whoever replaces current general manager Barry Trotz who will step down from his post at the end of the season.
Image courtesy of Haljestam-Imagn Images.
Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper On Personal Leave
The Tampa Bay Lightning will return from the Olympic break without their head coach. Jon Cooper will miss the team’s Wednesday and Thursday matchups for a personal leave of absence following the death of his father per NHL.com’s Benjamin Pierce. Cooper spent the last three weeks in Milan, Italy for the Winter Olympics where he served as Team Canada’s head coach en route to a Silver medal finish.
Like at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off, the championship game between USA and Canada required extra time. While superstar Connor McDavid was able to clinch the 4-Nations win with an overtime goal, Canada lost their chance at the Gold medal thanks to a goal from New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes. The win came three days after Team USA’s women’s hockey team won the Gold medal over Team Canada’s women’s team with their own sudden-death goal.
Cooper was outspoken about the Olympic’s 3v3 overtime structure following the game, sharing that the sport doesn’t resemble hockey with two players removed from the ice for both sides, per Michael Traikos of The Hockey News. The move to 3v3 was a new change this season, after the IIHF long operated with a 4v4 overtime structure. Overtime was 5v5 in the NHL’s 4-Nation Face-Off.
Cooper’s players still left Milan with a medal in hand, in no small part thanks to their coach’s ability to manage a tight ship. The Lightning have made the playoffs in 11 of the last 12 NHL seasons. They won the Stanley Cup twice – back-to-back in 2020 and 2021 – and made the Cup Finals twice more, in 2015 and 2022. Tampa Bay seems well set to continue their playoff streak, currently leading the NHL’s Atlantic Division.
Assistant coach Jeff Halpern stepped in to fill Cooper’s absence through a brief leave during the 2021 COVID season. Halpern remains in the same role and could be the top option to replace Tampa Bay’s command. Tampa Bay’s official choice for short-term head coach has not been announced.
Tampa Bay Lightning Activate Brayden Point
According to team insider Erik Erlendsson, the Tampa Bay Lightning have activated forward Brayden Point and defenseman Emil Martinsen Lilleberg from long-term injured reserve. Additionally, the team has placed Nick Paul on the injured reserve in a corresponding roster move.
The transactions were largely expected on all accounts. Despite being sidelined with a significant knee injury since January 12th, there was a fringe chance that Point would suit up for Team Canada at the Olympics. Although that didn’t happen, the expectation is that he would return to the team for their first game back, while taking time during the break to complete his rehabilitation.
Tampa Bay has arguably been the most dominant team in the Eastern Conference this season, and they’ve mostly done so without Point at the top of his game. When he has been healthy, Point has scored only 11 goals and 30 points in 37 games, averaging 18:02 of ice time. Still, his possession and defensive metrics have remained stable throughout his career averages.
Still, the point production has been worrisome, and would have a bigger impact if the rest of the team hadn’t been filling in the gaps. Point is only a year removed from an impressive three-year stretch where he scored 139 goals and 267 points in 240 games. Hopefully, the Olympic break provided Point with the necessary time to fully rehabilitate from the injuries that have negatively impacted his 2025-26 campaign, allowing him to regain his form in the final stretch.
Meanwhile, the Lightning are also adding some defensive depth back into the lineup. Lilleberg has missed multiple months with an undisclosed injury and is one of many Tampa Bay defenders to suffer long-term injuries this season. Before exiting the lineup in mid-December, Lilleberg scored two goals and six points in 32 games, averaging 17:21 of ice time. There’s no word on whether he’ll enter the lineup tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Lastly, Paul, like Lilleberg, is dealing with an undisclosed injury from before the Olympics. Unfortunately, the Lightning haven’t provided any rigid timeline for his return. Already seeking middle-six depth leading up to the deadline, Paul’s absence could further influence this plan. The 30-year-old veteran has registered six goals and 12 points in 34 games for the Bolts this season.
Lightning Interested In Evander Kane
He didn’t provide an exhaustive list, but Johnston stated that the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, among others, have each inquired about Kane to some capacity. Johnston doesn’t expect the price to be all that high, and he indicated that the Canucks have no issue retaining half of Kane’s salary for the rest of the season, making him much more financially palatable.
Lightning’s Victor Hedman, Brayden Point, Two Others Set To Return
Tampa Bay assistant coach Rob Zettler told reporters, including Benjamin Pierce, Beat Writer for the team, that Victor Hedman, Brayden Point, Charle-Edouard D’Astous, and Emil Martinsen Lilleberg are all expected to return tomorrow against Toronto.
Hedman, who already dealt with a nearly two-month long IR stint after elbow surgery, returned for the Bolts’ epic Stadium Series win over Boston on February 1, the first of his three games before the Olympic Break.
The Tampa captain then went off to Milan as a pillar of Team Sweden, where he sustained an apparent lower-body injury in warmups prior to last Wednesday’s game against the United States, ending his Olympic action. The 35-year-old won’t miss any more time, as he’ll look to settle in after just 21 games on the campaign so far, where he’s recorded 13 points (all assists) on 20:15 a night.
Also with ties to the Olympics, Point suffered a knee injury on January 12 that had fans fearing for the worst. Thankfully avoiding a long term recovery, Tampa’s top center attempted to get back in time for Milan and Team Canada, however, on February 5 the 29-year-old made the commendable decision to pass his spot, which was taken by Seth Jarvis.
Able to utilize the break to return to form, Point will give another boost to Tampa Bay, who maintained their elite play even without him. After a slower start to the year relative to his standards, with injuries a factor, Point was on a heater prior to his injury with 19 points in 16 games. All told, he has 30 in 37 on the season, good for sixth on the club despite missing considerable time.
Meanwhile, Lilleberg and D’Astous, both young defenseman who round out Tampa’s blueline, have been on injured reserve and are expected to be activated for tomorrow.
Lilleberg hasn’t played since mid-December, dealing with an undisclosed lingering injury. The 25-year-old had six points in 32 games before going down, averaging a career high 17:21 after emerging as a regular in the lineup in 2024-25.
D’Astous was placed on IR in late January, after a collision against Columbus on the 24th left him with a lower-body injury. The undrafted 27-year-old latched on with Tampa after three seasons in Sweden, and he looks to be the next under-the-radar contributor in the blue and white. The 6’2” lefty has 17 points in 43 games, playing over 19 minutes a night with a strong 53.4% corsi for at even strength.
The Lightning host the Maple Leafs tomorrow, and having won five in a row going into the break, it’s hard to imagine they’ll stop anytime soon, with several players back into the fold. Tampa is five points behind Colorado for first in the league.
Lightning Aiming To Add Right-Shot Defenseman
One of the Lightning’s priorities before the trade deadline is supplement their blue line, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period said on Thursday’s edition of “Daily Faceoff Live.”
“The right side of that ‘D’ corps has been something that they’ve been looking to add. [I] wouldn’t be surprised if [Lightning GM Julien] BriseBois pulls that off. Now, one of the things he did tell me during the Stadium Series was that if they make a move, they don’t just want it to be for this season. They view it as adding now and impacting the roster moving forward. So, to me, that means somebody with term or at least somebody controllable.”
Short-term, adding to the blue line in a season where they’re arguably the clear favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference is arguably a requirement for BriseBois to address. While they’ve gotten consistently strong play out of their call-ups this season, they’ve been plagued by injuries. That won’t change after the Olympic break. Maxwell Crozier won’t be an option until the first round of the playoffs after undergoing core muscle surgery. Victor Hedman has been limited to just 21 games this season and sustained another lower-body injury while warming up for Sweden in yesterday’s Olympic quarterfinal loss to the United States.
The short and long-term pictures are thin on the right side. Crozier, when healthy, had emerged as an NHL-capable third-pairing option. Behind their top three of Darren Raddysh, Erik Černák, and Crozier, they don’t have any other righties in the organization that they’d want playing postseason minutes.
There’s also the question of whether Raddysh, a pending unrestricted free agent, will opt to extend with Tampa. The 29-year-old may be the top pending UFA available at this stage after Artemi Panarin signed his extension with the Kings. His incredible breakout campaign has him sixth in the league in scoring among defensemen with 52 points (17 goals, 35 assists) in 49 games. He’s also now Tampa’s No. 1 on the blue line in terms of deployment, averaging 22:33 of ice time per game. AFP Analytics projects a four-year extension in the mid-$5MM AAV range if he sticks around, but as his earning potential will never be greater than it is now, it’s hard to imagine him not at least wanting to test the market.
With Černák serving as their only top-four piece on the right side signed long-term, and the aging Hedman and Ryan McDonagh needing to start to wind down their minutes on the left side, the need for another high-powered righty to take the Bolts through the end of the decade is apparent. On the left side, they have at least one succession policy in J.J. Moser, who’s already arrived as a top-pairing capable piece. Until they have some degree of certainty surrounding Raddysh’s future, though, long-term right-shot depth remains an active weakness.
If the Bolts aren’t in the rental market, their options become more limited. Teams are never exactly chomping at the bit to part ways with a cost-controlled, or even rights-controlled, right-shot blue liner with top-four deployability. The most talked-about names on the market, veterans Dougie Hamilton and Justin Faulk, are both rather high-cost, on the wrong side of 30, and are only signed for two seasons (Hamilton) or one season (Faulk) past this one.
A younger name who could be a fit, especially short-term as a more natural third-pairing upgrade, is the Rangers’ Braden Schneider. The 24-year-old is a pending restricted free agent, so while he’s not cost-controlled, he at least has two years of team control left for the Bolts to sign him to a long-term deal. He’s averaging a career-high 20:19 per game for the Blueshirts this season with two goals, 11 points, and a -15 rating in 57 games. New York has relied on him heavily in shutdown situations over the past few seasons, and his possession numbers consistently come out above water compared to his offensive zone start percentage. With Černák taking the brunt of shutdown minutes in Tampa, there may be room for Schneider to chip in more offensively in easier minutes.
Lightning’s Maxwell Crozier Out For Regular Season
Lightning defenseman Maxwell Crozier underwent surgery to repair a core muscle injury during the Olympic break, the team announced Wednesday. He’ll be out for approximately 10 weeks, putting his projected return date in late April – after the end of the regular season. He hasn’t yet been placed on injured reserve or long-term injured reserve, but will presumably land there closer to when the Bolts get back into game action on Feb. 25.
The 25-year-old Crozier has been out for a multi-game stretch several times this season. The 2019 fourth-round pick has worked his way into a full-time role with all the injuries on Tampa’s blue line this season, but he’s also lost 19 games to undisclosed injuries and illness. Whether or not his core muscle is what’s been plaguing him since first exiting the lineup in mid-October remains to be seen, but in any event, he won’t be an option for the Bolts again until late in a potential first-round playoff matchup.
Crozier has emerged as a valuable bottom-pairing piece, especially with how much the Bolts have had to rely on their defensive depth. In a career-high 34 appearances, he’s logged a goal and nine assists for 10 points with strong possession control numbers at even strength, including a 53.7 CF% and a 53.4 xGF%. It’s his third straight year seeing NHL ice, logging 13 appearances in 2023-24 and another five last year. The righty has good size at 6’3″ and 204 lbs and has averaged 16 minutes per night.
With the Bolts’ hot streak leading into the deadline giving them a 92% chance of taking home the Atlantic Division crown (per MoneyPuck), Crozier’s absence isn’t an insurmountable obstacle by any stretch. Still, with Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Emil Martinsen Lilleberg both questionable to be ready coming out of the break, they’ll be down another depth option if injury-prone veterans Victor Hedman or Ryan McDonagh end up needing another IR stint.
It’s worth noting the Bolts do have the fourth-most difficult remaining schedule, according to Tankathon. Missing Crozier for the stretch run could up the urgency for general manager Julien BriseBois to pursue a depth addition at the deadline to help fill Crozier’s role as a No. 6/7 option.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare To Retire
After 10 NHL seasons and parts of another 14 seasons in pro leagues in Europe, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare is retiring. The French national team captain, whose first Olympic appearance came to an end this morning with a quarterfinal loss to Germany, told reporters postgame that “this is it” for his international career, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Bellemare, 40, last played in the NHL with the Kraken in 2023-24. He’s spent the last two seasons with HC Ajoie in Switzerland, playing a pivotal role in helping them avoid relegation to the second-division Swiss League last year. His offensive production is greatly diminished this season, with just one goal and 10 points in 32 National League games, and he has a -15 rating. With only five regular-season games left on Ajoie’s schedule this year and locked into last place in the league, it’s unclear whether Bellemare plans to return to the team after his Olympic performance or make a clean break now.
Bellemare’s pro career began in 2002-03, as a 17-year-old with Rouen in France’s top league, then called the Super 16. He became one of the league’s top producers over the next few years, making his first appearance on the national senior team at the 2004 World Championship, but didn’t attract any NHL interest. He made the jump to a more competitive circuit with Sweden’s Leksands IF in 2006, playing in the second-division HockeyAllsvenskan. He spent three years there, leading the league in goals in 2008-09, before making another jump to Sweden’s top flight with Skellefteå.
Only after another five seasons with Skellefteå, where he won two SHL championships and was arguably the league’s top defensive forward, did Bellemare finally land an NHL contract. In 2014, he landed a two-way deal with the Flyers and, at age 29, immediately became a fourth-line, penalty-killing fixture in Philadelphia. He was never the offensive threat he was in Sweden, averaging just six goals and 12 points per 82 games, but rarely missed time and even garnered some outside Selke Trophy consideration by his third year in Philly.
Bellemare was ticketed to become an unrestricted free agent in 2017. The Flyers tried to avoid that by signing him to a two-year, $2.9MM extension in March, but they left him unprotected in that year’s expansion draft, and the Golden Knights picked him up. He wasn’t one of the many assets Vegas flipped following the draft, instead staying with the club through its storybook inaugural season in a familiar role as their fourth-line center. He hit double-digit assists in the regular season for the first of three times he’d do so in his career, before adding three points and a +6 rating in 20 playoff games in Vegas’ miracle run to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.
A free agent again in 2019, Bellemare would spend the rest of his career on short-term deals. He first signed a two-year pact with the Avalanche, where he hit a career-high 22 points in 69 games in his first year, before landing another two-year deal with the Lightning on the heels of their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. He made it back to the Final with the Bolts in 2022, only to lose to his old teammates in Colorado. After being limited to 13 points and a career-worst -9 rating in 73 games for Tampa in 2022-23, he hit the open market again and signed a league-minimum contract in Seattle.
Only in Bellemare’s last year in the league did he fall out of regular usage. He served as more of a 13th/14th forward for the Kraken than a fourth-line fixture, only suiting up 40 times while averaging 9:50 of ice time per game. After notching four goals and seven points for Seattle, he made it clear he wanted to extend his NHL career for at least one more season. With no guaranteed offers, he returned to the Avs on a professional tryout, but was released late in training camp. He then headed to Switzerland, where he had 10 goals and 28 points in 34 games for Ajoie last season before his age finally seemed to catch up with him in 2025-26.
While Bellemare’s offensive utility was limited, he’s arguably one of the most durable pros of his generation and is, by all accounts, an incredibly well-liked teammate. He also developed into a legitimate asset in the faceoff dot after a rough start to his career in that regard in Philly. From 2017 onward, Bellemare won 53.4% of his draws in over 4,500 attempts. His ability to stay in the lineup also provided incredible peace of mind for lineup cards. From 2014 to 2023, only 34 players logged more appearances than Bellemare’s 660.
Bellemare finishes his career with 138 points and a +22 rating in 700 games. He nearly broke even in shot attempts at even strength – an impressive feat for a defensive specialist – and also averaged 72 hits per 82 games. He garnered an estimated $11.3MM in career earnings, per PuckPedia. All of us at PHR congratulate Bellemare on an excellent career and wish him all the best in retirement.
Image courtesy of Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Tampa Bay Lightning
Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2025-26 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Atlantic Division, next up are the Lightning.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Current Cap Hit: $96,287,774 (over the $95.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Dominic James (two years, $910K)
Potential Bonuses
James: $102.5K
James declined to sign with Chicago and instead opted to go to free agency to get a better shot at NHL playing time. It took a bit of time but he has been up for most of the season, albeit in a bottom-six role. He should be able to get some of his games played bonus, an amount that might roll over to next year’s cap given Tampa’s cap situation. If James can stay in this role through next season, doubling this price tag could be doable.
Signed Through 2025-26, Non-Entry-Level
F Oliver Bjorkstrand ($5.4MM, UFA)
D Declan Carlile ($775K, UFA)
F Curtis Douglas ($775K, UFA)
D Darren Raddysh ($975K, UFA)
Bjorkstrand was the big pickup up front at the deadline last season with the fact he had an extra year left on his deal justifying a high price tag in terms of what they paid to get him. Back in the summer, a price tag in the $7MM range seemed feasible but he has been quieter than expected this season. That could lower the cost a bit on a longer-term deal but he also might be a candidate to take a one-year pact somewhere in the hopes of bolstering his value. That market could be fairly lucrative given how thinned out the UFA market has gotten so even with his struggles, he’s still heading for a raise. Douglas has played sparingly this season and while his NHL price will go up thanks to the increase in minimum salary, it’d be surprising if he received a one-way deal.
Raddysh has become one of the most interesting players in the upcoming UFA class. He quietly put up 30-plus points in back-to-back seasons which already made him a bargain at this price tag but this year, he’s hovering around 22 minutes and a point per game. Oh, and he’s a right-shot player too, the side always in maximum demand. The price tag for defensemen who can produce at a point per game can jump close to the $10MM per season range. It’s not feasible to think that Raddysh is going to land there given his smaller track record but something in the $6MM range could very well be doable. That’s still quite a jump for someone who was still trying to become a full-time regular just a few years ago.
Carlile is getting his first taste of extended NHL action and is holding his own in a limited role. He’s probably not going to jump too far past the $850K minimum salary but a one-way deal is a realistic goal to strive for.
Signed Through 2026-27
D Charle-Edouard D’Astous ($775K in 2025-26, $875K in 2026-27, UFA)
F Zemgus Girgensons ($850K, UFA)
F Gage Goncalves ($1.2MM, UFA)
F Pontus Holmberg ($1.55MM, UFA)
G Jonas Johansson ($1.25MM, UFA)
F Nikita Kucherov ($9.5MM, UFA)
D Emil Martinsen Lilleberg ($800K, RFA)
Even as one of the top-paid wingers in the league when this contract first started, Kucherov has been a bargain for the Lightning. Even if he agrees to keep taking a bit below market value, market value has jumped with the sharper increases to the salary cap. On the other hand, he’ll be entering his age-34 contract when this deal begins. A short-term deal could push the AAV into the $13MM or more range unless he wants to leave a lot of money on the table. I explored what a longer-term deal could look like in an effort to keep the price tag a little lower in a mailbag; if Tampa Bay wants to go six years, they could get an AAV more around the $10MM to $10.5MM range if all went well.
Holmberg has fit in nicely in his first season with Tampa Bay after being non-tendered by Toronto to avoid arbitration. The fact he can play center (even though he hasn’t much with the Lightning) will help his market value. If he can stay in a third-line role next season, doubling this price tag could be doable.
Goncalves has given Tampa Bay a bit of offense from the bottom six which is good but players like him often become non-tender candidates with teams wanting to keep their depth spots a little cheaper. With arbitration rights putting him in a spot to likely push for more than $2MM per season, Goncalves could be another in this trend. Girgensons had a tough first year in Tampa Bay but has been better this season, moving onto the third line. Still, at this stage of his career, teams will likely view him as a low-cost fourth liner. A small raise should be doable unless he wants to leave money on the table again to play for a contender.
Lilleberg has been a nice depth pickup after Arizona gave up his draft rights and a contract below the minimum next season (even after being boosted to reflect the new minimum salary) is a nice bonus. Value-wise, he’s a player who could seemingly land around the $1.5MM to $2MM mark but like Goncalves, his arbitration eligibility could work against him should he be unsigned by the end of June 2027. D’Astous has also been a nice find in free agency and quickly went from a player earmarked for AHL Syracuse to someone who has seen time in the top four. Even his in-season extension looks like a team-friendly one. If he stays as a top-four piece, a jump to the $3MM range could be realistic.
Johansson has been a below-average netminder throughout his career but with the Lightning having a high-end starter, they’ve opted for a low-cost second-string option. If he’s content with the role he has, another short-term deal around this price point is doable for him.
Signed Through 2027-28
D Maxwell Crozier ($775K, UFA)
G Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9.5MM, UFA)
Crozier is a full-time NHL player for the first time this season and understandably has had a limited role when he has been in the lineup. But a seventh defender at the league minimum for a few years is still reasonable value. The goal for Crozier will be to work his way into a full-time lineup spot which will need to happen for him to comfortably eclipse the $1MM mark on his next contract.
After a rough 2023-24 season by his standards, Vasilevskiy has bounced back to Vezina-level form and is providing a good return on this price tag. Like Kucherov, he’ll be heading into his age-34 contract and a long-term pact is going to be needed to keep this price tag down a bit. He’s someone who could aim to pass Igor Shesterkin’s $11.5MM AAV although if it’s a longer-term agreement, it could check in closer to where it is now.
