It seems the Tampa Bay Lightning have, at least for the most part, settled on the roster that will take to the ice for the 2025-26 season. They opted for tinkering around the edges as opposed to any drastic changes. It’s a strategy. A winning one? Well, that’s what the 82-game season will decide. While the roles Pontus Holmberg, Simon Lundmark, and Jakub Pelletier are yet to be determined, we do know that a couple of folks from last year won’t be back.
Outside of Yanni Gourde, the Lightning decided to let their unrestricted free agents walk. As of this morning this is where they ended up signing.
Nick Perbix – Nashville Predators – 2 years, $5.5 million
The biggest deal for any of the Lightning’s unrestricted free agents, Perbix heads to Smashville. He could be inline for a second-line pairing spot. After making a big splash in free agency last season, the Predators were a little more conservative this summer, signing Perbix while trading for Nick Hague and Erik Haula.
Matt Tomkins – Edmonton Oilers – 2 years, $1.5 million
It’s likely that Tomkins will head to the AHL Bakersfield as he returns to the organization that originally drafted him. That being said, it is the Oilers, so there is a non-zero chance he ends up starting playoff games for them.
Derrick Pouliot – New York Rangers- 2 years, $1.5 million
Like Tomkins’ deal, it’s likely that the veteran defenseman will spend most of the year in the AHL, but he does give New York a little depth after they traded away K’Andre Miller. He gets a little security with the two-year deal.
Conor Sheary – New York Rangers – PTO
Sheary, who agreed to have his contract with the Lightning terminated, will get a shot at making the Rangers in training camp. He had a really strong finish to the season when he was with the Crunch, and hopefully he can parlay that into a NHL gig.
Gabriel Fortier – Leklunds IF, SHL
Fortier takes his talents to Sweden. It’s possible that he had some interest from NHL organizations, but the security and paycheck from Europe might have been a little better than what he was seeing in North America.
Luke Glendening – pending free agent
It wouldn’t be surprising to see the veteran latch on with a team closer to training camp. He might be 35, but he still had a strong season in the face-off dot (57%) and could provide some penalty kill time and veteran leadership for a young team.
Cam Atkinson -pending free agent
That hasn’t stopped him from hanging out with his old teammates. He’s probably going to have to settle for a PTO at some point.
Hockey News
Buffalo signs Conor Timmons [SportsNet]
The team avoided arbitration with the 26-year-old that they acquired last month at the draft. He agreed to a 2-year, $4.4 million contract with the Sabres. With the deal, another arbitration hearing is avoided. As of right now there are three potential cases still on the schedule: Dylan Samberg (Winnipeg), Nick Robertson (Toronto), and Jayden Struble (Montreal).
Report from Day One of the Summer Showcase [NHL]
The first day of games in the showcase were played on Sunday and Mike Morreale has some observations. The Lightning have one prospect, goaltender Caleb Heil, playing in Minnesota. He split time in net with Nick Kempf in the Team USA (White) victory over Finland, stopping all 20 shots he faced.
Tracking the coaching changes in the NHL [Forbes]
Have you already forgotten which coaches were fired and which ones were hired? Well, here is a guide to the nine new bench bosses. Two former Lightning assistant coaches (Jeff Blashill and Mike Sullivan) and a former Tampa Bay head coach (Rick Tocchet) are among those adjusting to a new organization.
