TAMPA — Despite trying to keep Alex Killorn until the end, the Lightning saw their top unrestricted free agent reach the open market on Saturday.
The beginning of NHL free agency likely means the end of Killorn’s tenure with the Lightning; he has spent 11 seasons in a Tampa Bay sweater.
The Lightning then began retooling their forward lines, signing Conor Sheary, Luke Glendening and Josh Archibald to open free agency.
Sheary, who averaged 16 goals the past three seasons playing with the Capitals, was a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017.
The 31-year-old Sheary, who had 15 goals and 22 assists with a plus-9 in 82 games with Washington last season, signed a three-year deal for a $2 million average annual value. Sheary, who likely slots into a third-line wing role, also played on both special teams units for the Capitals, scoring two power-play goals and two short-handed goals. He previously carried a $1.5 million cap hit.
Sheary said that he received interest from other teams, but the Lightning showed the most.
“I think a lot of guys in the league (had) Tampa circled just because of their success in the last 10 seasons. Just their sustained success has been always something that I wanted to be a part of,” Sheary said. “Just that feeling that they wanted you as much as I wanted them really made my decision easy.”
“It’s always a tough game when you played these guys,” Sheary said of facing the Lightning. “They play a fast game, they can score in bunches, the top guys are always dangerous. The power play has always been dangerous. Going into Tampa, it always seemed like a battle to go in there. So I’m I’m glad to be on the other side of it now.”
Glendening, 34, signed a two-year deal with an $800,000 average annual value. He likely will fill the team’s fourth-line center spot and top penalty-killing duties left by unrestricted free agent Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
An exemplary faceoff guy — he has a career 55.7-percent win percentage in the circle and a 59.7-percent success rate the past three seasons — Glendening spent the past two seasons in Dallas, averaging six goals and five assists and 13:10 of ice time a game. Two of his three goals last season with the Stars were short-handed. He carried a $1.5 million annual cap hit the past two seasons.
Archibald, who will be 31 when the season opens, signed a two-year deal worth an $800,000 average annual value. He likely will round out the team’s fourth line as a right wing, bringing a physical, sandpaper game. Archibald has played parts of eight NHL seasons with Pittsburgh, Arizona and Edmonton, logging 9:59 a game in 62 games with the Penguins last season. He scored six goals and six assists and was second on the team with 195 hits, playing under a $900,000 cap hit.
Though they made retaining Killorn one of their top offseason priorities, the Lightning couldn’t keep the consensus top-five unrestricted free agent. After spending his entire career in Tampa Bay, Killorn made it clear he wanted to stay with the Lightning, but the ability to test the free-agent market for the first time in his career netted richer opportunities.
Killorn previously carried a $4.45 million cap hit as part of the seven-year, $31.5 million extension he signed with the Lightning in 2016.
He will turn 34 in September, but Killorn has improved his game as he’s gotten older and remained healthy.
Killorn is coming off a 27-goal season, a career high and the most of any player in the free-agent class, and he has scored at least 25 goals in three of the last four seasons (the outlier being the abbreviated 56-game regular season in 2021-22). And he has been impressively durable, missing just four regular-season games over the past eight seasons.
Going into the day Saturday, the Lightning had just $7.325 million of cap space, despite having only 17 players under one-way contracts. Included in that, they had just eight forwards on one-year deals for 2023-24. Tanner Jeannot will make the ninth after receiving a qualifying offer as an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, but his upcoming raise isn’t included in that space.
The team parted ways with bottom-six forwards Ross Colton, trading the pending restricted free agent to Colorado for a high second-round pick in the draft. The Lightning also acquired a seventh-round pick next season from Chicago for the rights to veteran Corey Perry, who then signed a one-year, $4 million with the Blackhawks.
Former Lightning defenseman Ian Cole signed a one-year, $3-million deal with Vancouver. Backup goaltender Brian Elliott also became a unrestricted free agent Saturday afternoon.
This story will be updated.
• • •
Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.
Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on Twitter and Facebook.
