Below is a daily tracker for all of Tampa's offseason signings, as well as losses from the 2022-23 roster.
JULY 1
F Conor Sheary → TB (3 years, $6.00 million [$2M AAV])
The Lightning started their free-agent frenzy with a quality signing. Sheary has spent the majority of his career in the Metropolitan division, providing middle six minutes for the Washington Capitals over the past three seasons. The 31-year-old had 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points in a full 82-game season last year, putting up the lowest shooting percentage of his career (9.7%) since 2018-19 when he was with the Buffalo Sabres.
Sheary has put up 10 or more goals in every season since his rookie year, and has topped 15 goals four different times (2017-18, 2022-23). Sheary Burst onto the scene during his sophomore year with Pittsburgh, joining a line with Sidney Crosby and playing in 61 games, putting up 23 goals and 30 assists for 53 points, all of which are career highs. Sheary back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and has put up seven goals and 16 assists for 23 points in 72 playoff games across six playoff appearances with the Penguins and Capitals.
This past season with Washington, Sheary averaged 15:46 of ice time, his highest total since that sophomore season with Pittsburgh. His 18.8 expected goals ranked fourth among all Capitals players last season. With his three-year deal, Sheary should slide into the top 9 nicely for a Tampa team looking to make up for the loss of Alex Killorn.
F Luke Glendening → TB (2 years, $1.60M [$800K AAV])
Talk about a blast from the past. Luke Glendening spent the majority of his career on the Detroit Red Wings, the early part of which came when the Lightning and Red Wings had a two-year playoff rivalry from 2015 to 2016 that saw tensions boil over in every single game. Glendening is entering his 11th season in the NHL, a career that has seen 69 goals and 79 assists for 148 points in 706 games. Last year for the Dallas Stars, he put up three goals and three assists in 70 games, averaging the lowest ice time (12:04 AOI) and highest penalty minutes (50), as well as the third-lowest shooting percentage (4.6%) of his decade-long career. With the departure of Pierre-Édouard Bellemare seeming imminent, the Lightning were in desperate need of a veteran fourth line center. One big advantage that Glendening provides over other fourth-line veterans is his ability to win faceoffs. His 59% on faceoffs last season placed him 8th among all players with at least 75 faceoffs taken, over names like John Tavares, Claude Giroux, and Bo Horvat. His penalty-killing skills also have drawn rave reviews, being a part of top penalty-killing units in Dallas over the past two seasons.
In five appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Glendening has put up five goals and three assists for eight points in 40 games.
D Ian Cole → VAN (1-year, $3.00 million)
The first announced departure from the Lightning on free agency day, Ian Cole received an identical contract from last season as he signed with the Vancouver Canucks. Cole had been connected to the Canucks over the previous week, ending any speculation that he would re-up with the Lightning.
In his only season in Tampa, Cole put up three goals and 14 assists for 17 points in 78 regular season games, and added a goal and two assists in six playoff games. Known more for his defense than his offense, Cole's underlying metrics showed that he was one of the top defensive defensemen in the NHL, but had the propensity to make egregious mistakes which led to backbreaking goals. Put in a larger role during the playoffs due to the injury to Erik Cernak, Cole had a much more difficult time keeping the chances at bay.
F Josh Archibald → TB (2 years, $1.60 million [$800K AAV])
Another long-time tenured Pittsburgh Penguins forward, Josh Archibald joins the Lightning on a relatively inexpensive multi-year contract. The forward put up six goals and six assists for 12 points and 62 games last year with the Penguins, recording a career-high 43 penalty minutes in a career-best +6. Archibald also spent time with the Arizona Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers in previous seasons, scoring back-to-back 12 goals and 20 points seasons in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. In his first stand with Pittsburgh, Archibald won the 2017 Stanley Cup, bringing the same type of veteran experience as Conor Sheary. In 305 career games, Archibald has 45 goals and 38 assists for 83 career points.
In 24 career playoff games, Archibald only has one goal and one assist.
G Jonas Johansson → TB (2 years, $1.55 million [$800K AAV])
A third-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres back in 2014, Johansson has yet to find his footing at the NHL level. In four seasons at the NHL level, Johansen has never played in more than 15 games in a season, which he did in the 2020-21 season between the Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres. Last season, Johansson started two NHL games, going 2-0-0 with a .932 save percentage and a 2.10 goals-against average. He also put up a .920 save percentage in 26 games with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.
Julien BriseBois said that they have full confidence in Johansson being the backup for Andrei Vasilevskiy in 2023-24. Though the Lightning have been needing a younger backup for a few years to help with Vasilevskiy’s workload, this is an interesting choice.
F Alex Killorn → ANA (4 years, $25 million [$6.25M AAV])
One of the most accomplished players in Lightning history, Alex Killorn followed in Ondrej Palat’s footsteps and cashed out in a big way. Drafted in the third round in 2007, Killorn had been the longest-tenured player in the organization. After four years at Harvard, Killorn joined the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals for the playoff stretch run and dominated the playoffs to get the Lightning an organizational championship. Midway through the next AHL season with Syracuse, in which he was nearly a point per game, Killorn was called up and recorded half a point per game for the rest of the season.
‘Over the next decade, Killorn would be one of the most valuable players for the Lightning. He would finish fifth in team history with 805 games played, sixth in goals with 198, eighth in assists with 268, and seventh in points with 466. He was a staple of the penalty kill, and a net-front presence on the power play.
Killorn also put up 37 goals and 40 assists for 77 points in 140 playoff games, winning back-to-back cups with the Lightning and creating countless moments.
F Logan Brown → TB (1-year, $775K [two-way])
In their first two-way contract of free agency, the Lightning signed forward Logan Brown. Brown is a former first-round pick by the Ottawa Senators (11th overall; 2016) and is just 25 years old, but has yet to make his mark at the NHL level. Brown has 99 games of NHL experience spread over six seasons and two teams, tallying seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points. He’s been much more productive in the American Hockey League during his stints there, putting up 29 goals and 69 assists for 98 points in 115 AHL games.
At 6’6, 218 lbs., Brown finished with 22 hits last season in his 30 games with the St. Louis Blues. Expect to see both Brown on both the Lightning and the Crunch at times next season.
F Mitchell Chaffee → TB (1-year, $775K [two-way])
An AHL signing, Chaffee has a chance to be an impact player for the Syracuse Crunch. The 25-year-old had 23 goals and 39 points in 49 games during his first full AHL season, and looked to be taking the next step in his sophomore year with five goals and seven points in 10 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Fully healthy, he should slot in nicely to the Crunch’s top-6.
D Calvin de Haan → TB (1-year, $775K)
After losing Ian Cole to the Vancouver Canucks yesterday, the Lightning signed his replacement on the left side of the defense today.
De Haan has been in the NHL for almost a decade, and he's still only 32 years old. While he isn't what he used to be, he could fill Cole's role very nicely on the Lightning's third pair. Spending time with the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, and Chicago Blackhawks, de Haan has put up 21 goals and 110 assists for 131 points in 573 games. When it comes to the postseason de Haan has played in 37 games over four years with a goal and four assists.
This past season in a return to Carolina, he had two goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 53 games. Despite his normal production in the regular season, and the Hurricanes making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, de Haan did not see playoff action. Like Cole, de Haan is regarded as an analytical darling in third pair minutes. With the Lightning currently having eight defenders on the opening night roster, de Haan will be battling it out with Haydn Fleury and Zach Bogosian to claim that final spot.
F Pierre-Édouard Bellemare → SEA (1 years, $775K AAV)
Even though he was only on the Lightning for two seasons, he played a pivotal role in establishing a rough and tough fourth line as the center. Even with his production dipping year-over-year, the veteran put up 13 goals and 33 points in 153 regular season games for Tampa, while going 51.9% from the faceoff dot and having a positive takeaway/giveaway ratio. Bellemare also had three goals and two assists for five points in 29 playoff games with the Lightning.
F Tanner Jeannot → Re-signed (2 years, $3.3M [$2.665M AAV])
Jeannot was the big RFA for the Lightning this summer, and had settled for arbitration. With an arbitration hearing scheduled for July 24, the Lightning and Jeannot were able to find a deal before that date. Acquired right before the deadline last year, Jeannot put up a goal and three assists for four points in 20 regular season games, before suffering what looked to be a season-ending high-ankle sprain vs. the New York Islanders. Jeannot would return for three playoff games, but ultimately looked like a shell of himself with the injury still largely bothering him and was replaced by Mikey Eyssimont for the rest of the series.
For a third liner, $2.665M isn't a ton of money. It remains to be seen who Jeannot is going to play with on that line, but he will certainly be given a more prominent role when it comes to being the aggressor, as Perry and Maroon are both gone. The contract is also equipped with a modified no-trade clause in year two.
Comentarios