Here we are. It’s the first week of August and hockey still seems light years away. In all honestly, we’re only about a month away from prospect showcases starting. Players are wrapping up their vacations and dedicating themselves to getting ready for training camp and the long grind of a compacted schedule. Yet, there are still some free agents lingering out there.
There does seem to be a consensus that there might be a late flurry of free agents signing over the next couple of weeks as teams still have cap space and there are some players that should have a shot at signing a deal. Jack Roslovic heads that group, but others such as Matt Grzelcyk and Ilya Samsonov are players that have a long enough track record that they should have a contract come September.
Outside of that group are the veterans that might have to show a little more before signing a contract. Every summer teams bring players in on professional try-out (PTO) deals. Sometimes they turn into contracts, sometimes the player just fades away. The Lightning have used it over recent years bringing in Austin Watson and Logan Brown. Watson worked his way into a deal while Brown settled for an AHL deal with the Syracuse Crunch.
Could Julien BriseBois dip into that well again this summer? For the most part the roster is set. Yes, they need someone to step up and take a spot on the second line, but that’s going to be an internal solution. They have several players to mix and match among the bottom-six, but there is an opening there for someone to come in and earn a spot.
Mr. BriseBois loves signing veterans to one-year, minimum-salary deals, and he’s pretty much refrained from that this season. He’s opted to add some younger talent like Jakob Pelletier (24-years-old), Simon Lundmark (24), and Pontus Holmberg (26). Can he resist the urge to sign someone over the age of 30? Yes, he signed Scott Sabourin (32), but he’s likely ticketed for Syracuse this season.
If does offer a PTO, or his patented one-year, league-minimum deal, who should he go after? Here are a couple of options that we might see in camp in Semptember.
Bring ’em back!
Mr. BriseBois is fond of a reunion. He’s brought back Ryan McDonagh, Yanni Gourde, and Boris Katchouk over the past two seasons. Two current free agents could keep that trend going.
Luke Glendening – Center – 36-years-old
Tampa Bay Lightning: 77 games, 4 goals, 3 assists, 10:47 TOI, 57.0% face-off percentage
The Lightning general manager was very complimentary of Glendening’s time with the Lightning. While he was an offensive black hole (for both teams), the veteran was solid on the penalty kill and in the face-off dot. Having a right-handed center that wins more than half of the face-offs he takes is a tremendous bonus for a team to have.
His two-season stint in Tampa was fairly consistent year-over-year with one glaring example. In 2023-24 he posted a career-high 17.5% shooting percentage that led to 10 goals. Last season it regressed more to his career average and he put up 4 goals while shooting 7.8%. His possession numbers were slightly better (as was the case with most of the Lightning players) and perfectly in-line with a fourth-line forward.
Jan Rutta – Right-hand Defenseman (35-years-old)
San Jose Sharks: 54 games, 3 goals, 6 assists, 17:15 TOI, 81 blocked shots
The McDonagh/Erik Cernak reunion worked out last year, why not give the Victor Hedman/Jan Rutta pairing a shot this year? Well, for one thing, Rutta is no Ryan McDonagh. Still, it could be an intriguing low-cost move to bring Rutta to camp. The right side of the Lightning defense is, well, it could be better. Cernak is a lock. A healthy J.J. Moser is probably Hedman’s partner again this season. After that it’s a bit hazy.
Darren Raddysh is the most versatile solution to the third pairing and probably gets the first shot at the spot. Lundmark was brought in to challenge for the role, and Max Crozier is probably the first choice from an in-house promotion point of view. There is an opening for a veteran who is familiar with the way the Lightning go about their business.
The last two seasons haven’t been kind to Rutta statistically. Playing for a rebuilding San Jose team plays into that, but the aging curve could be catching up to him as well. Among his peers on the Sharks, he was pretty average. The 2.9 xGA/60 was fifth among defensemen on the team that played in at least 30 games, but his 11.77 HDCA/60 was third. He blocked 4.68 shots-per-60 which was a career high, and his 2.85 hits-per-60 was around what he averaged over his three full seasons in Tampa.
Injuries could be a concern as he missed a portion of last season with a lower-body injury. Again, those aren’t numbers that earn a multi-year contract, but a PTO? Sure, why not?
Names that seem to have come up at the trade deadline
Luke Kunin – Center/Wing – 27-years-old
San Jose/Columbus – 75 games, 11 goals, 7 assists, 14:41 TOI, 46.6% FO, 187 hits
If it wasn’t for his disastrous post-deadline performance with Columbus, Kunin would probably already have a job locked up with a new team. In 12 games with the Blue Jackets he posted 0 points and was a healthy scratch at the end of the season as Columbus made a playoff push. Honestly, even with that he might sign a deal before camps open. It feels like once Jack Roslovic decides, there could be a chain reaction where some other forwards like Kunin and Victor Olafsson quickly sign deals.
Should Kunin still be looking for a job once camps open, there is a good chance he ends up with a PTO. He’s a versatile forward that can play center and wing, up and down the line-up. At this stage in his career, his best fit is as a bottom-six center that hits everything on the ice.
Like Glendening, he’s a right-hand shot that can take face-offs. Unlike Glendening, he isn’t a dominant face-off guy as he has a 44.9% success rate during his eight season career, topping out at 47.3% last year with San Jose.
Even though he was held off of the scoresheet in Columbus, his underlying numbers weren’t terrible. He generated a 1.85 ixG in those 12 games while his shot rates and individual scoring rates were inline with what he was doing in San Jose when he put up 10 goals and 6 assists at 5v5.
In a best-case world, Kunin would provide a physical edge while chipping in a few goals on the fourth line. If he’s hanging around when camps open it would be worth giving him a look.
Robby Fabbri – Center – 29-years-old
Anaheim Mighty Ducks: 44 games, 8 goals, 8 assists, 16:12 TOI, 45.5% FO
Fabbri is an interesting free agent. If not for injuries, he would probably be under a long-term contract, but the fact that he’s only played more than 60 games in a season three times in his nine-year career has him searching for a job. He’s also not going to help a team defensively, but if the Lightning want to acquire a player that can provide some offense on the bottom-six while also possibly being able to fill a role on the top-six if injuries creep into the line-up Fabbri could be a solution.
In a sense, he’s Cam Atkinson 2.0. Limited to just 44 games with Anaheim last year, Fabbri still put up 1.31 points per 60 minutes at 5v5. He had 8 goals and 5 assists at even-strength, which would be borderline middle-six production if he was able to hit 70-80 games in a season.
Of the four players listed, Fabbri is probably the worst fit for what the Lightning need, but he could also provide the most upside. In the seasons where he stays relatively healthy he produces. In 2021-22 he played in 56 games and had 17 goals. In 2023-24 he put up 18 tallies in 68 games. So the offense is there, but his questionable health may be too big of a factor for the Lightning to even take a chance on him. There is also the fact that he might have a better route to more NHL minutes with other teams.
Are there any other players out there that you think the Lightning might bring in on a PTO? Comment below!
