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Lightning RFA Hugo Alnefelt Expected To Sign In Sweden

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22-year-old netminder Hugo Alnefelt, the Lightning’s best goaltending prospect, may not remain in North America next season. The pending restricted free agent is expected to sign with HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League, Expressen’s Jacob Johannesson reports.

Alnefelt, a 2019 third-round pick, has spent the entirety of 2023-24 on assignment to AHL Syracuse. Despite starting 30 games this season, the most on the team, he’s fallen to third on the Crunch’s depth chart behind veteran Matt Tomkins and the minor-league-contracted Brandon Halverson, who’s played all four playoff games for Syracuse thus far. HV71’s signing of Alnefelt will be announced after Syracuse’s time in the Calder Cup Playoffs comes to an end, per Johannesson.

Regardless of Alnefelt’s future, the Lightning were likely going to be looking for a goalie at the 2024 NHL draft. Their depth at the position is paper-thin – only the 22-year-old unsigned Nick Malík can be labeled as a prospect, and below-average veterans Tomkins and Jonas Johansson staffed the third and second-string roles behind undisputed starter Andrei Vasilevskiy this season, respectively. The Lightning don’t have any other goalies on their reserve list.

It was a disappointing season for Alnefelt, his third in Syracuse since signing his entry-level contract in 2021. He was expected to be more of a competitor with Tomkins for the bonafide starting role and was given plenty of opportunity with Tomkins on the NHL roster backing up Johansson at the beginning of the season while Vasilevskiy missed time recovering from back surgery. But his numbers regressed back to below average after a strong sophomore showing in 2022-23, logging a .893 SV%, 2.76 GAA, two shutouts and a 14-8-4 record.

Tomkins was again needed in the NHL down the stretch, this time with Johansson out, and was only reassigned to Syracuse last week. It was a golden opportunity for Alnefelt to seize the crease heading into the postseason, but he instead lost it to the 28-year-old Halverson, who hadn’t played in the AHL since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, Halverson is authoring quite a comeback story – he missed nearly all of 2020-21 with an injury and didn’t play at all in 2021-22. He made his return to pro hockey last season with the Bayreuth Tigers in the second-tier German DEL2 before joining the Tampa Bay organization this year on a contract with ECHL Orlando that was later converted into an AHL agreement with Syracuse. Thus far, Halverson has a .918 SV% in four postseason games as Syracuse is tied 2-2 with Rochester in the best-of-five North Division Semifinals.

Therefore, it’s unsurprising to see Alnefelt return to his native Sweden after slipping down the Tampa Bay depth chart. The Lightning can still retain his signing rights for the time being by issuing him a qualifying offer. He made one NHL appearance during his ELC, allowing three goals on 10 shots in the third period of a 9-3 loss to the Panthers on Dec. 30, 2021, after starter Maxime Lagace was pulled.

With HV71, Alnefelt will split the crease with former Canadiens prospect Fredrik Dichow, a 2019 fifth-round whose exclusive signing rights lapsed last June and is now an unrestricted free agent. Dichow had a .943 SV% in six games in HV71’s relegation series against IK Oskarshamn to keep the club at the top level of Swedish hockey next season.

Victor Hedman To Play In World Championship

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  • Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman will take part in the upcoming World Championship later this month, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link). The 33-year-old hasn’t had many opportunities to take part in the tournament in the past but has been consistent about going when he could.  This will be Hedman’s fourth time playing in the event and his first since 2016-17.

Lightning Have Started Extension Talks With Steven Stamkos And Victor Hedman

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There has been plenty of speculation regarding the future of Steven Stamkos in Tampa Bay after it was announced in training camp that there wouldn’t be any extension discussions during the season.  However, now that their year has come to an end, GM Julien BriseBois told reporters including Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times that he has already reached out to Stamkos’ agent to discuss a new deal before his current one expires on July 1st.  Additionally, he indicated that he has also spoken with the agent for defenseman Victor Hedman to begin extension discussions for him.

Stamkos has been a franchise fixture for the Lightning since they selected him first overall back in 2008.  Since then, he has been one of the top scorers in the NHL, notching 555 goals and 582 assists in 1,082 regular season games along with 50 goals and 51 helpers in 128 playoff contests, helping lead the team to a pair of Stanley Cup titles.

While Stamkos’ prime years are now behind him, he is still a very productive player.  The 34-year-old is coming off another season of more than a point per game, picking up 40 goals and 41 assists in 79 games this season.  His 81 points are good for second among all pending unrestricted free agents, behind only Florida’s Sam Reinhart.

Accordingly, there’s a strong case to be made that Stamkos should be in line for a raise on his current $8.5MM AAV.  However, with Tampa Bay already having over $75MM in commitments to 16 players for next season per CapFriendly, fitting in a raise for Stamkos would make it that they couldn’t afford to fill out the rest of their roster.  As a result, BriseBois will either have to get his captain to agree to a below-market contract or he will have to move a player or two out to open up the cap room to re-sign him.

As for Hedman, he has also been a Lightning lifer thus far, having been with the franchise since picking him second overall in 2009.  For most of that time, he has been their undisputed top blueliner and surpassed the 1,000 games played mark this season.  He’s coming off one of the best years offensively of his career, collecting 13 goals and 63 assists in 78 games.  With Mikhail Sergachev missing more than half of this season due to injuries, Hedman certainly was able to pick up the slack.

The timeline for a new deal for Hedman isn’t as tight as Stamkos’ is.  The 33-year-old isn’t even eligible to sign a contract until the final year of his current contract begins on July 1st.  With that in mind, any discussions in the next couple of months will likely be of the preliminary variety.

Hedman currently carries a $7.875MM cap charge, one that is certainly well below market value for a proven top-pairing defender like he is.  Like Stamkos, there’s a very strong case to be made that he’s worthy of a raise on his next agreement which is easier said than done given their salary structure.  Having said that, BriseBois has been aggressive when it comes to trying to sign his core players to early extensions so it wouldn’t be surprising if one gets done in July when he becomes eligible to sign.

Lightning Reportedly Extend Jon Cooper

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The Lightning have signed head coach Jon Cooper to a one-year extension, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports. He’ll remain in Tampa through the 2025-26 campaign. He’d previously signed a three-year extension in October 2021 that ensured he’d be paid by the team through 2024-25. Speaking to reporters at this morning’s end-of-season media availability, general manager Julien BriseBois told reporters the team wouldn’t hold extension talks with Cooper this summer because “he had term,” indicating he’d signed or agreed to sign an extension past next season (via the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina).

Cooper just wrapped up his 11th full season behind the Lightning bench, guiding the squad to a 45-29-8 record to match last season’s point total of 98, earning them the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. For the first time in his tenure, though, the Bolts finished in the bottom third of the league in goals against and posted a rather underwhelming -19 goal differential at 5-on-5. Their well-above-average power play and penalty kill buoyed them, but both were neutralized in the first round of this year’s playoffs by the Panthers, who ended Tampa’s season with a 6-1 win in Game 5 on Monday.

It was inarguably a down season for the team, marred by losing number two defenseman Mikhail Sergachev for over half the season and starting the campaign without All-Star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. But the 56-year-old Cooper’s track record does more than enough heavy lifting to convince the Lightning front office that he’s the right person to extend their dwindling championship window.

After he took over for Guy Boucher with 15 games remaining in the shortened 2012-13 season, the Lightning have only missed the playoffs once in Cooper’s tenure. The longest-serving coach in the league has compiled a 525-279-75 record in 879 regular-season games behind the Tampa bench, as well as an 87-63 record in an astounding 150 playoff appearances. His 612 total wins with the Lightning are the third-most all-time with a single franchise, trailing Lindy Ruff with the Sabres (628) and Al Arbour with the Islanders (859).

Before this season, the Lightning hadn’t gone more than one year without a playoff series victory since advancing to the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Now, they’ve fallen short of a .600 points percentage in back-to-back years and are 3-8 in their 11 playoff games over the last two seasons. Cooper’s sole task over the next two is to keep the club from falling into the trap of post-dynasty mediocrity, much like the current edition of the Penguins and the early 2010s Red Wings.

The roster he leads next season won’t look considerably different. 16 roster players are signed for next season at a combined $75.1MM cap hit, per CapFriendly. The notable exception is captain Steven Stamkos, who will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 for the first time in his career if BriseBois can’t get him signed to an extension. BriseBois added in today’s media availability that working on a deal with Stamkos over the next two months is a “priority,” although only preliminary talks have been held.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Lightning Assign Three Players To AHL

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The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that they re-assigned defensemen Maxwell Crozier and Emil Lilleberg as well as netminder Matt Tomkins to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League. The moves come one day after the Lightning were eliminated from the first round of the NHL playoffs by the Florida Panthers.

Crozier dressed in three of the five Lightning playoff games, going scoreless while recording a -1 and averaging 14:15 of ice time per game. The 24-year-old rookie also played in 13 regular season games for Tampa Bay, recording two assists while registering 16 hits and 11 blocked shots. The Calgary, Alberta native was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL entry draft and spent four seasons in the NCAA with Providence College before an abbreviated run with Syracuse last spring. In his first full professional season, Crozier was impressive enough to get a spot in the lineup for his first taste of NHL playoff hockey.

Lilleberg returns to Syracuse, where he spent the first half of the 2023-24 season dressing in 33 games for the Crunch, tallying two goals and 11 assists. The 23-year-old spent the second half of the season with the Lightning, dressing in 37 NHL games and posting five assists. While he’s unlikely to develop into an offensive defenseman, Lilleberg showed enough in the regular season to earn a spot in the lineup for all five Lightning playoff games. Now he’s in line to play big minutes for the Crunch in the AHL playoffs.

Tomkins took seven years of professional hockey before making it to the NHL this season at 29. The Edmonton, Alberta native was drafted in the seventh round of the 2012 NHL entry draft and bounced around from the AHL to the ECHL, to the SHL before finding his way back to North America and making his NHL debut with Tampa Bay. In his first NHL action, Tomkins dressed in six games going 3-2-1 with a 3.33 goals-against average and a .892 save percentage. He’ll now return to Syracuse where he played 29 games this season and went 15-12-2 with a .904 save percentage.

Syracuse is currently tied at 1 with the Rochester Americans in their best-of-five North Division Semifinals series, game 3 goes Thursday night in Syracuse.

Poll: Should The Lightning Re-Sign Steven Stamkos?

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In case you’ve missed the discourse after the Lightning’s first-round elimination last night (or haven’t read our preview of this summer’s top UFA left wings), Steven Stamkos is on an expiring contract. The future Hall-of-Famer has now wrapped up the eight-year, $68MM extension he signed in 2016 and will go to market on July 1 if not signed to an extension.

Over the course of his extension, the now 34-year-old Stamkos has overseen the greatest sustained period of success in franchise history. The club only missed the postseason once – the first season of his deal, 2016-17, in which a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee ended his campaign in November. Back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021, a third straight Finals appearance in 2022, and an additional Eastern Conference Final showing in 2018 have cemented the Lightning as arguably the most successful squad over the past 10 years, notwithstanding the three other ECF/SCF appearances Stamkos made with the team before his extension (2011, 2015, 2016).

Overall, injuries limited him to 513 of 618 possible regular-season games (83.8%) during his last contract, but he’s remained a capable top-of-the-lineup scorer and is money in the bank for over a point per game. He had 81 in 79 this season, including 40 goals – his seventh time hitting the milestone.

Stamkos has transitioned into a less-taxing role on the wing at even strength in his later years with the emergence of Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point, as well as the extremely well-advised Nick Paul pickup, making his slightly negative possession impacts over the last two seasons easier to swallow. He was never a beacon of defensive excellence, but he did at least routinely post Corsi shares at even strength above the team’s overall share without him on the ice. That hasn’t been the case since 2021-22.

He’s still an extremely effective player, and given the precedent of other Lightning stars like Point and Nikita Kucherov taking slight discounts on their market value, it likely wouldn’t be prohibitively expensive to re-sign him. But Tampa’s lack of bottom-six scoring and poor defensive depth – especially without a fully healthy Mikhail Sergachev – was exposed in their rather decisive series loss to the Panthers.

The club has $10MM in projected cap space next season, with extensions/replacements also needed for Anthony Duclair, their best secondary scorer since his trade deadline pickup from the Sharks, and blue-liner Mathew Dumba. They’re also losing the $6.875MM of long-term injured reserve flexibility they’ve had from retired defenseman Brent Seabrook’s contract over the past couple of seasons.

Point is still 28. Kucherov is 30. Cirelli is 26. Hedman is 33. Sergachev is 25. Vasilevskiy is 29. Even without Stamkos, it’s a playoff-caliber core for at least two to three more seasons with the right moves. Will that make general manager Julien BriseBois seriously consider prioritizing better depth adds over re-signing the best player in franchise history?

Stamkos said before the 2023-24 season started that he was disappointed in the lack of extension conversations with BriseBois. The six-year GM said in January that he still envisioned Stamkos as part of the roster moving forward but would wait until the offseason to evaluate where the roster stood. The results are as follows: Tampa scored just 36.9% of 5-on-5 goals in the series, a worse share than even the Capitals, who were swept at the hands of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers. Nine players, including most of their bottom six forwards, failed to score a point. Given they got everything they could ask for from their stars – seven points from Hedman, seven assists from Kucherov and five goals from Stamkos, that may very well swing the balance.

So, PHR readers, we now ask you: Are the Lightning better off keeping Stamkos or using offseason cap space to prioritize rebuilding their depth scoring and defense? Have your say in the poll below:

(poll link for app users)

Cooper: Steven Stamkos "Feels Like A Bolt For Life"

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Couturier, 31, was previously represented by Sports Prospects’ Erik Lupien, whose only active NHL client is now Lightning forward Gabriel Fortier, per PuckPedia. Brisson won’t have any say in Couturier’s compensation anytime soon – he just finished the second season of an eight-year, $62MM extension that carries him through 2030. However, the change did come in short order after a season that ended poorly for the 12-year veteran, who was unexpectedly scratched by head coach John Tortorella for a pair of games in March as the Flyers were beginning to fall out of the playoff race.

  • Until Lightning captain Steven Stamkos puts pen to paper on an extension, the possibility remains that last night’s Game 5 loss to the Panthers was his last in a Tampa uniform. Speaking to reporters after their first-round elimination, head coach Jon Cooper spoke briefly about his future, saying he hopes there won’t be much conversation about it. “He belongs here. We know it, he knows it… I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but he feels like a Bolt for life. Only he and Julien [BriseBois] can answer that one,” he said. Stamkos, one of the top pending UFAs, said last night that the thought of playing in his final game in Tampa “never crossed my mind” as Florida increased their lead late in a 6-1 win. During training camp, Stamkos said he was disappointed in the lack of early extension talks between him and general manager BriseBois, which still haven’t occurred.

Atlantic Notes: Raddysh, Fleury, Matthews

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Tampa Bay Lightning reporter Chris Krenn tweeted that Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said defenseman Darren Raddysh is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. The 28-year-old missed game 4 of Tampa Bay’s first-round series last night after he’d averaged over 17 minutes of ice time in the first three games.

The native of Toronto, Ontario spent nearly five seasons toiling in the AHL before emerging this season as a solid depth option for the Lightning. In 82 games this year, Raddysh posted six goals and 27 assists while playing over 19 minutes a game. A late bloomer, Raddysh set career highs in almost every offensive category this season, while still providing the Lightning with solid work in the defensive zone.

In other Atlantic Division notes:

  • Jon Cooper also told Chris Krenn that defenseman Haydn Fleury is healthy and available to play for the Lightning. The former seventh-overall pick hasn’t played since colliding with an official back on April 6th in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and did take warm-ups last night with the team. While he is available for game 5, Fleury may serve as a healthy scratch given the depth Tampa Bay has on their back end. Fleury has never lived up to his top-10 draft status but remains a decent depth option for the Lightning should a defenseman go down to injury.
  • TSN’s Chris Johnston tweeted that Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe spoke about superstar Auston Matthews saying that the illness he’s been suffering from has lingered and worsens when he gets on the ice and begins to push himself. Matthews left last night’s game early as the Maple Leafs fell into a deep hole and now trail the Boston Bruins 3-1 in their first-round matchup. The 26-year-old played just 14:16 yesterday, registering a single shot on goal and has just a goal and two assists in four playoff games thus far. Toronto will face elimination tomorrow night in Boston.

Eamon Powell To Play Fifth And Final College Season

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  • Lightning prospect Eamon Powell announced on his Instagram page that he has elected to return for his fifth and final season at Boston College next season. The 21-year-old was a fourth-round pick by Tampa Bay back in 2020 (116th overall) and after a slow first couple of years, he took a good step forward offensively last season, notching 22 points in 36 games.  This season, Powell took an even bigger leap forward, averaging nearly a point per game with 38 in 40 contests which led some to believe he’d turn pro.  Instead, the defenseman will stick around for another year.  Tampa Bay will now retain Powell’s rights through next year instead of having to sign him by August 15th.

Lightning To Activate Mikhail Sergachev From LTIR, Expected For Game 4

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Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev is taking normal line rushes during warmup ahead of tonight’s must-win Game 4 against the Panthers, indicating he’s been activated off long-term injured reserve, per the team’s Chris Krenn. Sergachev has been out since fracturing his fibula and tibia during a game on Feb. 7, and head coach Jon Cooper said earlier this month that he wasn’t expected back until the second round at the earliest. The team later confirmed he’ll be entering the lineup as they try to stave off early elimination against their cross-state rivals.

Sergachev, 25, hasn’t played a full game in over four months. He sustained a lower-body injury against the Blues on Dec. 19 that kept him out of game action through the All-Star break and sustained the freak double-break in his left leg while attempting to lay a hit on Rangers winger Alexis Lafrenière in his first game back.

Those injuries limited the top-four fixture to 34 appearances in the regular season, his fewest as a Lightning. Before his initial injury, Sergachev was struggling to recapture his 2022-23 form that earned him Norris Trophy consideration for the first time. Offensively, his points per game pace dropped from 0.81 to 0.56, and his possession metrics dipped slightly as well. The latter was to be expected, though, after a salary cap crunch forced the Lightning to part with many key depth players after last season.

He was actually on the ice for fewer expected goals against per game at even strength than he was last season, something you wouldn’t glean from his -16 rating. That was tanked due to the majority of Sergachev’s playing time coming while starting netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy was out recovering from preseason back surgery, forcing inexperienced backup Jonas Johansson into most of the starts to begin the year.

Line rushes indicate he’ll be paired with Erik Černák as the Lightning begin to try and climb out of a 3-0 series deficit. The two were routinely partners when Sergachev was healthy this season, playing 238 minutes together in 31 games. Per MoneyPuck, the pair controlled 48% of expected goals when deployed together.

They’ll operate as Cooper’s second defense pairing behind Victor Hedman and Mathew Dumba in Game 4. Dumba moves up alongside Hedman as Darren Raddysh is a late scratch with an undisclosed injury. Raddysh took just two shifts in the third period of Game 3.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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