Bolts kick off free agency with six deals on the first day

Saturday was a busy day for front offices across the National Hockey League and that was no different for Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois and his staff.

The Bolts announced six signings Saturday afternoon, including five forwards and one goaltender.

Things kicked off with a three-year deal for two-time Stanley Cup champion Conor Sheary with an AAV of $2 million. The 31-year-old winger played in all 82 games with the Washington Capitals last season, ranking fourth on the team with 15 goals and fifth with 37 points. His plus-9 rating was tied for the second-best among all Washington skaters.

The speedy winger has played in 531 career NHL games between Washington, Pittsburgh and Buffalo, scoring 120 goals and adding 132 assists for 252 points. He also comes to Tampa with 72 career playoff games under his belt, along with seven goals and 23 points in the postseason.

Sheary said he had a couple other teams involved, but was pursued the most by the Lightning.

"I think a lot of guys in the league have Tampa circled just because of their success in the last 10 seasons or so," said Sheary. "Their sustained success has always been something that I wanted to be a part of."

Sheary brings something to the table that many of Saturday's signings do for the Bolts - speed, tenacity and a willingness to be relentless on the forecheck to generate turnovers in the offensive zone.

"I think my game has been pretty consistent throughout my career," said Sheary. "I can chip in offensively where I can. I use my speed as much as I can. Kind of relentless on the forecheck in creating turnovers and that kind of thing.

"I think, with all those attributes, I feel like I can move up and down the lineup, wherever they might need me. Whether it's special teams, bottom six, top six, whatever it is, I think my game can kind of fit into that.

"And, like I said, I think they play with a lot of speed and that's a big asset of mine, so I'm looking forward to bringing that to Tampa."

In scouting Sheary as a possible add to the Lightning roster, BriseBois saw a lot of the same attributes listed by the new Bolts winger.

"Conor is a well-established top nine forward at the NHL level," said BriseBois. "He can play up and down your lineup, either wing.

"He has a history of playing with elite players, both in Pittsburgh where he won two Stanley Cups and played with Sidney Crosby and Geno Malkin, and more recently playing in Washington, where he got to play with Alex Ovechkin. Not everyone has the ability to play with elite players like that, but Conor has proven that he can do that.

"He can kill penalties. He can play on the power play. Super versatile player that coaches are going to really enjoy having on the team because of all the flexibility he will provide our roster. Also comes in with a winning pedigree."

About 30 minutes after the news of Sheary's contract, Tampa Bay announced a two-year deal for right winger Josh Archibald that carries an AAV of $800,000. Archibald played 62 games with Pittsburgh last season and recorded 12 points with six goals and six assists, along with a plus-6 rating that was good for third-best on the team.

The 30-year-old forward has skated in 305 career NHL games with Pittsburgh, Edmonton and Arizona, picking up 83 points with 45 goals and 38 assists.

"I think it'll be a good fit," Archibald said. "Just really looking forward to getting down there, bringing speed and physicality and hopefully get some chances to help out the penalty kill and be able to do that. I love that part of the game, so just being able to get down there and bring some energy for the team."

Like Sheary, BriseBois likes Archibald's ability to play with pace and be a tough player to play against.

"Bottom six winger, signed to a two-year deal for $800,000," BriseBois said. "Provides a lot of speed, hard to play against, can kill penalties. Really good forechecker.

"Both he and Luke Glendenning and Connor Sheary are all really good forecheckers. Kind of fits the identity we want to play with, where we're playing with pace, we're aggressively and relentlessly forechecking, creating turnovers and generating offense off of those turnovers.

"All three of these forwards are really effective checkers, who will help you protect leads and can play against the other team's best players, so it's not always on our first and second lines to get those matchups.

"I think that's going to also free up some of our higher scoring forwards from some of those defensive responsibilities, knowing that players who will likely be in our bottom six are able to assume that role for us."

Glendening, who was mentioned by BriseBois, was the next signing announced on Saturday, with the veteran center inking a two-year contract with an AAV of $800,000.

Glendening, 34, has been one of the top faceoff guys around the NHL for the past several years. Over the past five seasons, he's won 57.9% of his faceoffs, the fourth-best among all NHL skaters with 500 or more draws taken during that span.

Likely the new fourth line center in Tampa, he has played 706 career games between Detroit and Dallas. Lightning fans may remember Glendening from some of the grueling playoff series vs. the Red Wings with Glendening constantly being tasked with the challenge of playing against the Triplets Line of Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov.

"Obviously, I'm glad to be on this side of it," Glendening said. "I've played against them for 10 years now. Obviously, they have a great team and I'm just trying to be a tiny part of that.

"I'm going to try to win faceoffs, be a penalty kill guy and help in any way I can. They already have a great team and I'm just going to try to come in and help any way I can."

Glendening is a right-handed center, something BriseBois shared the Lightning liked, due to his ability to take important faceoffs from the right circle.

"Luke Glendening is a right shot center who excels at taking draws," BriseBois said. "Really effective penalty killer and gives us an option for taking right side faceoffs, especially on the penalty kill.

"Really hard to play against. Good shutdown, checking forward that has had that role for many years in the league and has been successful in that role for many years in the league. One of the premier faceoff guys in the league.

"Adds speed to our bottom six, so that was also of value to us. Signed for two years at $800,000. Again, what we feel will provide us really good value and help us win going forward."

Just after 3 p.m. ET, the Bolts announced a two-year contract for goaltender Jonas Johansson with an AAV of $775,000. The Gavle, Sweden native will have the opportunity to fill the role of Andrei Vasilevskiy's backup for the next two seasons.

Johansson is a big guy at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, and had a lot of success at the AHL level last season, as well as the NHL level when given the opportunity. With the AHL's Colorado Eagles in 2022-23, Johansson posted a 14-9-2 record with a .920 save percentage and a 2.33 goals-against average. He appeared in three games in the NHL with the big club and recorded a .932 SV% paired with a 2.10 GAA

In total, Johansson has played in 69 career AHL games and posted a 39-21-8 record with a .911 SV% and 2.56 GAA. At the NHL level, he's appeared in 35 games and recorded a record of 11-13-4 with an .887 SV% and 3.32 GAA

The newest Tampa Bay goaltender is 27 years old and was originally drafted by Buffalo in the third round of the 2014 NHL Draft. BriseBois said there's a lot of untapped potential the Bolts see in Johansson.

"We signed Jonas Johansson to a two-year contract to be our backup goaltender," BriseBois shared. "Jonas is still a young goalie, who we feel has untapped potential. We are excited to get to work with him.

"He has tremendous size. He has some NHL experience. He's actually put up really good numbers when he's had the opportunity to play in the NHL over the years.

"Obviously, cap space is in consideration for that position and to be able to lock up our backup goaltender for what is the league minimum for the next two years is of great value to us from a cap management standpoint.

"To bring in a still relatively young goaltender that has that size and that track record at the NHL level, and come in for that cap number, we feel will provide us tremendous value for the next two years."

Later in the day, the Lightning announced two more signings that will likely start the season in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch, but will be given the opportunity to compete for jobs with the big club. Tampa Bay inked forwards Logan Brown and Mitchell Chaffee to one-year, two-way deals that both carry an AAV of $775,000 at the NHL level.

Brown was a highly-touted prospect entering the 2016 NHL Draft and was selected 11th overall by the Ottawa Senators. Since then, he's skated in 99 career NHL games, scoring seven goals and adding 19 helpers for 26 points between Ottawa and St. Louis.

At the AHL level, Brown has played 115 career games with Springfield and Belleville, totaling 98 points with 29 goals and 69 assists. The big forward brings plenty of size at 6-foot-6, 218 pounds.

Chaffee, 25, has only played in two NHL games thus far, but has performed very well in the AHL. Last season, the 6-foot-1, 201-pound winger kicked off the season with five goals and seven points through the first 10 games with the Iowa Wild, but suffered a knee injury that held him out for the remainder of the year.

One season prior, Chaffee scored 23 goals and added 16 assists for 39 points in 49 games during his second season of professional hockey.

"What we like about those two players is they already have a track record of being really successful at the AHL level and have a little bit of experience at the NHL level," said BriseBois. "But, more importantly, we feel they're still young and they have untapped potential.

"We believe in our development program. They're going to come in. They're going to be given an opportunity to compete and show us what they've got. They can certainly come in and steal a job and start the season in Tampa. But, more than likely, both would start the season in Syracuse and get a chance to fulfill the potential that we see in them in the coming months, coming years maybe, and establish themselves as NHL players.

"So, worst case they are going to Syracuse, and they are going to help that team be competitive and be call-up players for us. But we are hoping that we can work with them and help them establish themselves as NHL players and be the next success stories of our development program."

While the Lightning brought in several players on Saturday, they also lost a big name in Alex Killorn, who signed a four-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks with a reported AAV of $6.25M. Killorn departs Tampa Bay after 11 seasons and 805 games, both the fifth-most of any player in franchise history.

In terms of other franchise rankings, Killorn ranks sixth in goals (198), eighth in assists (268) and seventh in points (466). He also ranks third all-time with 140 playoff games played, while his 37 playoff goals rank fifth and his 40 assists and 77 points both rank sixth.

"Alex has meant so much to our organization and has a very important place in the history of our franchise," BriseBois said. "A player that was drafted by the organization, developed by the organization, who came in with that wave that kind of gave the momentum to our franchise going back to being one of the premier franchises in the league and bringing the Stanley Cup back to Tampa Bay.

"Tremendous leader on the ice, in the locker room, in the community. Really happy for him. He's getting a great opportunity in Anaheim.

"I know he did not necessarily want to leave. He didn't want to leave. We didn't want to lose him. But sometimes the economics of the business come into play, and we just couldn't bridge the difference and couldn't come up with a scenario where we could come up with a contract that was acceptable to him and that would allow us to keep the other players that we want to keep and be able to have a competitive roster for the future.

"So, obviously, disappointed to see him go, but very happy for him and excited that we're bringing in some new players."

BriseBois also gave a couple updates on the status of contract negotiations with players like Tanner Jeannot, who is a restricted free agent in need of a new deal, along with Brandon Hagel and Steven Stamkos, who are both under contract for one more season before becoming free agents next summer.

"Tanner, we have been in talks with his representation," said BriseBois. "We obviously tendered him a qualifying offer. Today, we were kind of focused on the unrestricted free agent market because it comes at you fast and furious when 12:00 strikes.

"But now that we've kind of addressed some needs within the organization, we'll turn our attention back to trying to get Tanner Jeannot signed in the coming, hopefully days, potentially weeks."

As for Hagel and Stamkos, BriseBois said, "I don't have anything to announce right now or don't expect to have anything in the short term.

"With the cap constraints being more and more challenging to navigate, it makes it harder and harder to get deals done early on. But we obviously think tremendously of both players and hope that both will be with us beyond next season. And we have plenty of time to get them signed before they become, in Stammer's case, an unrestricted free agent, and in Brandon's case, a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer."

In terms of the defensemen on the roster heading into next season, BriseBois said that while this could change, he expects Victor Hedman, Erik Cernak, Mikhail Sergachev, Nick Perbix, Haydn Fleury, Darren Raddysh and Zach Bogosian to be the seven defensemen on the roster for Opening Night.