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Lightning Sign Cam Atkinson

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed veteran forward Cam Atkinson to a one-year, $900K contract. Atkinson was bought out of the final year of his deal with the Philadelphia Flyers ahead of free agency, leaving him open to sign with any club.

Tampa Bay continues their streak of eye-raising signings by inking one of the market’s oldest names. Atkinson, 35, struggled to hold onto his groove with the Flyers last season, managing just 28 points in 70 games and earning multiple healthy scratches in the second half of the year. It was a far fall for the acclaimed NHL veteran, especially considering he posted 23 goals and 50 points in 73 games in 2022-23.

But despite recent struggles, Atkinson will be remembered for his years of success with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Atkinson served a prominent top-line role for the Blue Jackets throughout much of the 2010s, routinely challenging the 50 or 60-point mark, on the back of consistent 20-goal scoring. He had a career year in 2016-17, when he managed 35 goals and 62 points in 82 games, only to follow it up with 41 goals and 69 points in 80 games two years later.

Atkinson’s career seems to be on the downswing after a rough year with the Flyers – but his deal in Tampa Bay is certainly low-risk, high-reward. For less than $1MM, the Lightning have added a veteran forward and tremendous goal-scorer. Atkinson could be set for a prime role in the team’s middle-six, where linemates like Brandon Hagel or Anthony Cirelli could help bring his game to the heights it was sat at. That will certainly be what Tampa Bay hopes for, as they look to make up for the absence of franchise legend Steven Stamkos with the additions of Jake Guentzel and Atkinson.

Minor Free Agent Signings: Atlantic Division

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With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Atlantic Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.

Boston Bruins

F Cole Koepke (one year)
D Jordan Oesterle (two years)
D Billy Sweezey (two years)
F Riley Tufte (one year)
F Jeffrey Viel (one year)

Buffalo Sabres

F Joshua Dunne (two years)
F Mason Jobst (one year)
F Brett Murray (one year)
D Jack Rathbone (one year)
G Felix Sandström (one year)

Detroit Red Wings

F Sheldon Dries (two years)
F Joe Snively (one year)

Florida Panthers

F Rasmus Asplund (one year)

Montreal Canadiens

none

Ottawa Senators

D Jeremy Davies (one year)
F Hayden Hodgson (one year)
F Garrett Pilon (two years)
D Filip Roos (one year)

Tampa Bay Lightning

D Derrick Pouliot (one year)
D Steven Santini (one year)
F Jesse Ylönen (one year)

Toronto Maple Leafs

none

Lightning Sign Victor Hedman To Four-Year Extension

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The Lightning have signed franchise defenseman Victor Hedman to a four-year contract extension worth $8MM per season, the team announced today. The deal kicks in beginning in 2025-26 and will keep him in Tampa through 2028-29.

The extension is signing-bonus heavy and carries a full no-move clause, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports.

Hedman and the Lightning were headed toward unrestricted free agency next summer, a fate both surely wanted to avoid after watching longtime captain Steven Stamkos depart for the Predators yesterday. Notably, Hedman’s extension is the exact same length and total value as Stamkos’ deal in Nashville. The new deal is a slight raise on his $7.875MM cap hit, which remains in effect for 2024-25 as he plays the final season of the eight-year, $63MM extension he signed in Tampa back in 2016. Hedman, 33, will now be 38 years old when his contract runs out.

Hedman, drafted second overall in 2009, remains Tampa’s undisputed top blue liner and is arguably the second-best talent in franchise history behind Stamkos. They don’t win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021 without the 6’7″ Swede, who was crowned the Conn Smythe winner the first time around. He was a Norris finalist in every season from 2016-17 to 2021-22 (winning in 2017-18), a span in which he recorded 85 goals, 289 assists, 374 points and a +117 rating while averaging 24:34 across 428 games played.

Two years ago, however, it looked like Hedman’s decline might have started early. 2022-23 was a rough campaign for him on both sides of the puck, with his 0.64 points per game checking in as his worst offensive showing in seven years and his 50.1 xGF% at even strength running surprisingly mediocre despite over 60% of his zone starts coming in the offensive end.

He had a nice rebound campaign last season, though, erupting once again for 76 points (13 goals, 63 assists) in 78 games with a +13 rating. Hedman has also stayed relatively healthy as he ages, never missing more than six games in a season for the past four years. That’s a good sign for their highest-paid blue liner, who will be relied upon heavily next season to anchor a new-look defense that’s seen Ryan McDonagh re-acquired after two years away and Mikhail Sergachev swapped for J.J. Moser in a larger deal with Utah.

It’s the second big-money move from the Lightning in the past two days. They found Stamkos’ pricier but younger replacement, acquiring top free agent left wing Jake Guentzel’s signing rights from the Hurricanes and promptly inking him to a seven-year deal worth $9MM per season. Clearly, GM Julien BriseBois has no intention of letting the Bolts slip out of championship contention anytime soon, doing well to replenish their roster this past week with younger and, in some cases, more cost-effective talent. But keeping Hedman around was always a priority, too, and he becomes the overwhelming favorite to succeed Stamkos as captain this season.

Hedman’s marginal increase on his current deal means the move doesn’t have much of an impact on their long-term salary cap picture. They do still have one big-ticket item to check off their list this summer, though. Moser remains an unsigned RFA, and they’d surely prefer to get him inked to a new deal before he can file for arbitration. It shouldn’t be too big of a hassle, as the Lightning still have $6.65MM in projected cap space remaining with five open roster spots, per CapFriendly.

With Sergachev out and McDonagh and Moser in, Hedman joins Erik Černák as the only Tampa defenseman signed past 2025-26. They have considerably more long-term stability at forward, with Guentzel, Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and Brayden Point all locked up through the end of the decade.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Lightning Sign Zemgus Girgensons To Three-Year Deal

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The Lightning have signed forward Zemgus Girgensons to a three-year deal worth $2.55MM ($850K per season), per a team release. It’s Girgensons’ first NHL stop outside of Buffalo, where he spent the first 10 seasons and 688 games of his career.

Girgensons, now 30, will help replenish some of the forward depth the Lightning lost today at an extremely reasonable cost-controlled deal to boot. The 6’2″ Latvian will likely slot into a fourth-line role in Tampa, potentially skating on the wing alongside Luke Glendening and Jesse Ylönen, another one of Tampa’s UFA pickups today.

A decent middle-six checking forward with flexibility at center in his younger days, he’s slipped to fourth-line status in Buffalo the last two years. 2023-24 marked his first season without reaching the 10-goal mark since 2018-19, limited to eight goals and 14 points in 63 games. His 11:51 average time on ice was also a career-low, and it’s hard to imagine him earning much more with the Bolts with others like Mitchell Chaffee, Michael Eyssimont and Conor Sheary providing a bit more offensive upside at the moment.

Girgensons will now remain in Tampa through the 2026-27 season in his depth role, and could be buried in the minors without penalty if he declines past the point of being an NHL regular.

Lightning To Extend Emil Martinsen Lilleberg On Two-Year Deal

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are reportedly in agreement on a two-year, $1.6MM extension with defenseman Emil Martinsen Lilleberg (X Link). The deal will carry an AAV of $800K at the NHL level and is set to begin a year from today.

Lilleberg made his professional debut in North America last season with the Lightning after coming over from IK Oskarshamn of the Swedish Hockey League. Since being drafted 107th overall by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2021 NHL Draft, the Norwegian defenseman had spent all of his professional career in the SHL as he scored three goals and 18 points over 93 games.

Lilleberg went on to tally five assists in 37 games for the Lightning over two separate call-ups throughout the regular season. He spent more time with the Lightning than not this year as he only collected 33 games with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, and scored two goals and 13 points in that time.

With Tampa Bay already having six NHL-caliber defensemen on the roster, and plenty of depth options still available on the free-agent market, Lilleberg should start the season in AHL Syracuse. Lilleberg should represent the top option to be called up if the Lightning’s blue line succumbs to injury at any point during the 2024-25 regular season.

Lightning Sign Jesse Ylönen, Two Others To Two-Way Deals

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The Lightning are picking up winger Jesse Ylönen on a two-way contract, Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times reports. He was non-tendered by the Canadiens yesterday, making him a UFA. They also inked veteran depth defenders Derrick Pouliot and Steven Santini to one-year, two-way pacts with $775K cap hits, per CapFriendly.

Ylönen, 24, has the greatest chance to crack the Tampa roster out of camp. The 2018 second-round pick struggled to produce with Montreal last season, limited to four goals and eight points in 57 games. But his minor-league numbers (32 points in 39 AHL GP in 2022-23) suggest greater offensive upside, something he may get the chance to showcase with many depth spots up for grabs in Tampa. He’ll compete for time with recent adds like Zemgus Girgensons and internal options like Mitchell Chaffee and Gage Goncalves.

Pouliot and Santini, meanwhile, are solely depth signings for AHL Syracuse, with the Lightning’s top seven defensemen already locked in. Pouliot, 30, remains a quality power-play option in the minors, suiting up in the Stars organization with AHL Texas last year. There, he recorded nine goals and 46 points in 64 games and earned a brief cup of coffee in the NHL with Dallas, where he went without a point in five games. Once a top-ten pick by the Penguins in 2012, he hasn’t stuck around as an NHL full-timer since 2018-19 with the Canucks.

Santini, 29, is a 6’2″ right-shot defender who’s changing NHL organizations for the second summer in a row. After a few years in the Blues’ pipeline, he spent last season on a one-year deal with the Kings, where he had 10 points and a +9 rating in 64 games for AHL Ontario. A second-round pick of the Devils in 2013, he has 123 games of NHL experience, mostly with New Jersey. He last suited up in the NHL for St. Louis in 2022-23, recording an assist in a four-game call-up.

Free Agent Rumors: Stamkos, Bennett, Verhaeghe, Stolarz, Ekman-Larsson, Grzelcyk, Martinez

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The Devils are in the market for a top-six forward today, and they may end up as one of the finalists for Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, per ESPN’s Kevin Weekes.

They’ll be one of many teams making Stamkos’ agent’s phone ring off the hook today. TSN’s Bob McKenzie also expects the Ducks, Hurricanes, Predators and Red Wings to make aggressive pushes for the future Hall-of-Fame forward.

A return to Tampa Bay is extremely unlikely for Stamkos, whose 555 career goals and 1,082 games played have all come in a Lightning uniform. They weren’t close to an extension as of last weekend, and their signing of top UFA left winger Jake Guentzel to a seven-year, $63MM deal this morning has all but completely boxed him out.

More from around the Eastern Conference amid an already busy morning:

  • The Panthers are working hard on extensions for forwards Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe as they become eligible to sign at 11 a.m. CT today, sources tell David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. They’ve already gotten one big piece of business done today by keeping Sam Reinhart away from the open market on an eight-year, $69MM deal, but Bennett and Verhaeghe are two crucial pieces of their top-six forward group that remain unsigned past next season. It’s unclear what these deals may look like, but Reinhart taking a considerable discount on market value to remain in South Florida is surely a good indicator that Panthers GM Bill Zito can get them locked into deals that won’t break the bank.
  • TSN’s Darren Dreger adds the Panthers are also trying to re-sign UFA netminder Anthony Stolarz, but they have some competition. The Blackhawks and Maple Leafs are also in the mix for the veteran’s services. While a career backup, he’s one of the best options on the market in a UFA class devoid of starters. He was electric when used in Florida last year, posting a .925 SV% and 2.03 GAA in 27 appearances.
  • After making Chris Tanev’s six-year deal official, expect the Leafs to add another veteran blue liner in Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Dreger says. OEL is coming off a Stanley Cup win in Florida after putting up 32 points in 80 regular-season games, averaging 18:24 per night. He’d likely anchor a third pairing in Toronto on the left side behind Morgan Rielly and Jake McCabe.
  • The Penguins are among the teams linked to defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, The Athletic’s Josh Yohe reports. Grzelcyk is likely on his way out of Boston after spending the entirety of his eight-year, 445-game career there. He had 11 points and a +13 rating in 63 games last season while logging 17:36 per night.
  • Alec Martinez could continue his NHL career with the Blackhawks on a one-year deal, per TSN’s Bob McKenzie. The three-time Cup winner fell down the Golden Knights’ depth chart last year, limited to 55 games due to injuries and healthy scratches. He still managed 17 points, though, his most offense in three years, but had a -2 rating while averaging 19:03 per game.

Lightning Sign Jake Guentzel To Seven-Year Contract

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The Lightning have taken our No. 1-ranked UFA off the board. After acquiring his signing rights from the Hurricanes yesterday, they’ve locked in left winger Jake Guentzel on a seven-year, $63MM deal ($9MM cap hit), per a team announcement.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic has the full breakdown of the deal:

2024-25: $1MM base salary, $12.26MM signing bonus, no-move clause
2025-26: $1MM base salary, $8.95MM signing bonus, NMC
2026-27: $3.96MM base salary, $4MM signing bonus, NMC
2027-28: $1MM base salary, $6.96MM signing bonus, NMC
2028-29: $1MM base salary, $6.96MM signing bonus, 10-team trade list
2029-30: $1MM base salary, $6.96MM signing bonus, 10-team trade list
2030-31: $1MM base salary, $6.96MM signing bonus, 10-team trade list

While many had questioned Guentzel’s value after spending nearly all of his eight-year NHL career stapled to Sidney Crosby’s wing in Pittsburgh, a trade deadline deal to Carolina proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he’s a top-flight first-line talent in his own right. The 29-year-old has averaged more than a point per game over the last six seasons, totaling 189 goals, 221 assists and 410 points in 398 games since his breakout 40-goal campaign with the Penguins in 2018-19.

Carolina acquired Guentzel at the trade deadline, hoping to get him signed to an extension as he hurtled toward free agency, but it wasn’t in the cards. Guentzel’s initial ask was a reported eight-year, $64MM deal ($8MM AAV), something the Hurricanes weren’t willing to meet until too late in the process, LeBrun said last week. He was excellent down the stretch while alternating between Carolina’s top two forward lines, ending the year with eight goals and 17 assists for 25 points in 17 games with a +16 rating. Playing mostly alongside Sebastian Aho in the playoffs, Guentzel continued his reputation as a strong playoff performer with four goals and five assists in 11 contests.

A third-round pick of the Penguins in 2013, Guentzel played a key role in the second of the Penguins’ back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2017. He led the league in playoff goal-scoring as a rookie, lighting the lamp 13 times in 25 games – five of which were game-winners.

It’s clear that Lightning GM Julien BriseBois is banking on Guentzel being a more expensive yet more sustainable long-term replacement for Steven Stamkos. Their longtime captain is expected to find a new home on the open market today after failing to come to terms on an extension.

In Tampa, Guentzel could form one of the most terrifying top lines in the league alongside Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. Kucherov is coming off a 100-assist, 144-point campaign that won him the second Art Ross Trophy of his career, while Point has hovered around the 50-goal mark for the past two seasons.

The Lightning have $7.5MM in projected cap space remaining for 2024-25 after the Guentzel signing, per CapFriendly. They still have six open roster spots, including newly acquired RFA defenseman J.J. Moser.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Lightning Nearing Extension With Victor Hedman

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According to Kevin Weekes of ESPN, the Tampa Bay Lightning are nearing a contract extension with all-star defenseman Victor Hedman. The news comes shortly after the report indicating that Jake Guentzel will be signing with the organization after the team traded for his signing rights earlier this afternoon. Because he is already signed to a contract in Tampa Bay, Hedman will have to wait until tomorrow to sign a new agreement.

Hedman is set to wrap up his current eight-year, $63MM extension after the 2024-25 NHL season concludes, and would have become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career at 34 years old. With an average annual value of $7.875MM since the start of the 2017-18 NHL season, there is an argument to be made that Hedman has been playing on a bargain of a contract for some time.

Over the life of his current contract, Hedman has appeared in 503 regular season games for the Lightning while scoring 91 goals and 427 points. The Lightning have made the postseason in each year of the deal while Hedman has assisted the team with 17 goals and 80 points over those seven years. Hedman has also won one Norris Trophy, one Conn Smythe Trophy, and two Stanley Cup rings in hardware.

The former second-overall pick can still be counted on to log heavy minutes on the ice but may see his workload increase after the team parted ways with defenseman Mikhail Sergachev on the second day of the 2024 NHL Draft. Hedman appeared to handle the workload fine with Sergachev out for much of the regular season this past year but it will be interesting to see if he can keep up that fortitude over the life of the expected extension.

The full terms of the deal will likely break tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how long the Lightning go on a Hedman extension. The team was recently willing to give a similarly-aged Steven Stamkos an eight-year agreement to keep the AAV down towards a team-friendly level.

Lightning Reportedly Reach Contract Agreement With Jake Guentzel

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According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Tampa Bay Lightning have agreed to terms on a contract with pending UFA forward Jake Guentzel. The deal’s financial terms were not disclosed and may take until tomorrow to fully develop. The news comes a few hours after the Lightning acquired Guentzel’s rights from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

The reported deal will likely check in at an eight-year term with the Lightning owning enough cap space to give Guentzel nearly $10MM annually. Because the team acquired Guentzel’s signing rights earlier today, Tampa Bay became the only team able to sign Guentzel to an eight-year contract. If Guentzel made it to free agency tomorrow, the Lightning would have only been able to offer him a max of seven years — the same as all other suitors.

After being acquired by the Hurricanes at the trade deadline from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Guentzel proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he could thrive without playing next to Sidney Crosby. However, by inking a contract with the Lightning, Guentzel may arguably have better linemates. The team will likely start him next to Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point on the top line, with the former finishing up a season in which he led the league in assists and points.

Guentzel will land in Tampa Bay having already played 520 regular season games at the NHL level while scoring 227 goals and 491 points through eight years. Largely known for his postseason contributions; Guentzel is a one-time winner of the Stanley Cup as he’s scored 38 goals and 67 points in 69 career games in the playoffs. After being knocked out in the first round of back-to-back postseasons, the Lightning will surely be looking for Guentzel to help turn around the team’s most recent fortunes.

Depending on the financial terms of the agreement, the contract between Guentzel and the Lightning organization may have some collateral damage. With longtime captain Steven Stamkos hitting the free agent market tomorrow, Tampa Bay may not have the cap flexibility to re-sign him after all.

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