The Tampa Bay Lightning had a busy Monday as they signed a pair of European players and re-signed defenseman Sean Day to a new contract. After working out a deal with Finnish forward Waltteri Merelä, the Bolts dipped into the Swedish Hockey League to sign Norwegian defender Emil Martinsen Lilleberg to a two-year, two-way contact.
Emil Martinsen Lilleberg #GoBolts
$870k cap hit / $950k AAV
2 year entry-levelBreakdown each season:
$775k + $95k SB + $80k GP ($82.5k minors)https://t.co/jtycCRrhTX— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 5, 2023
Lilleberg is a 22-year-old blueliner that has spent the last two seasons with IK Oskarshamm of the SHL. He isn’t a prolific offensive machine from the backend, having recorded just 3 goals and 15 assists in 93 games, but is a serviceable skater who can add a bit of a physical game with 6’2″, 192 pound frame.
Previously drafted as an overager in the fourth round of the 2021 NHL draft by the Arizona Coyotes, he became a free agent on June 1st when the Coyotes couldn’t sign him (much like the Lightning and Cam MacDonald). He has spent the last couple of seasons holding his own against much older competition (with a February 2nd birth date he is a relatively “young” 22).
Arizona took a bit of a flyer on Lilleberg when they drafted him, considering he was ranked 127th by Central Scouting in his draft year. He never cracked their top prospects list during the time he was in the organization. Granted, with all of their high draft picks recently, that’s a tough list to make.
Internationally, Lilleberg has played quite a bit for Norway, going all the way back to the 2017-18 season when he was part of their Under-18 team at the World Juniors. He’s captained the 2018-19 U18 team as well as the 2019-20 Under-20 team and has three World Championships appearances under his belt. In the most recent World Championships he was second in ice time for Norway at 23:07 in 7 games with zero points.
There is a chance he stays in Europe to play next season as he recently signed with the Vaxjo Lakers HC of the SHL. If he does want to come over to North America, it’s likely that he will spend most of his time with the Syracuse Crunch in order to adapt to the North American style of play. Depending on how the Lightning solve the left-side, third pairing opening they currently have, Lilleberg could find quite a bit of ice time with the Crunch if he does decide to come over.
The Bolts could also let him spend next season in the SHL to see how he plays before bringing him over for the 2023-24 season. That’s the nice thing about signing him to a two-year deal, they have time to watch him play before having to make a decision.
While none of the signings made today will likely have a huge impact on how the Lightning fare next season, general manager Julien BriseBois is doing a decent job of filling in some holes in the organizational depth by means other than trades or the draft. We’ll see if he continues to do so as we march towards the draft.
If he does eventually suit up for the Lightning he will be the first Norwegian to do so and only the 8th player from that country to skate in the NHL. So he has that going for him.
