The Tampa Bay Lightning have a quiet summer on the restricted free agent front, but around the league the arbitration calendar is already getting trimmed down.
That matters because arbitration is one of those awkward NHL chores nobody enjoys. A player and a team walk into a room, both sides make their case, and an independent adjudicator decides the number.
If it gets that far, the contract can only run one or two years, and the side that did not elect arbitration gets to choose the term. There’s also a hard line for player-elected cases: if the award comes in above $4.95 million, the team can walk away and the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.
Once every arbitration case is settled or decided, the league opens a second buyout window for 48 hours. Any contract bought out in that window has to carry an AAV of at least $4 million.
For Tampa Bay, the immediate pressure isn’t there. The Lightning don’t have much to sort through this summer, though Gage Goncalves and Emil Lilleberg will have arbitration rights next summer. Julien BriseBois has usually handled his RFAs before things ever reach that stage, and the most recent Lightning player to file for arbitration was Tanner Jeannot, who settled before his hearing.
Elsewhere, the list is already moving. The Sabres agreed to a four-year deal with Peyton Krebs at a $4.5 million AAV, taking one arbitration case off the board. Krebs can slot anywhere from the second line to the fourth line, and Buffalo clearly decided that was enough to lock him in now.
The Rangers also took care of business by signing Braden Schneider to a one-year deal worth $5.5 million. That pushes the issue down the road, since Schneider will still be a RFA next summer. For now, New York avoids the July 29 meeting where both sides would have had to sit across from each other and make their case.
The Jets added another piece from their draft class as well, signing 18-year-old Sascha Bjorck to his entry-level deal. Bjorck was the eighth pick in the most recent draft and becomes the third member of that class to sign, joining Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenburg. There’s a chance he joins Winnipeg this year; if not, he could return to the SHL.
And beyond the contract business, the NHL and NHLPA helped the alumni association announce benefits for former players, another reminder that the people who built the game are still being looked after.
In Other News...
NHL Insider Pushes Back On One Growing Lightning Fear
The Lightnings latest early playoff exit has naturally raised the usual questions about how much runway this core really has left, but Elliotte Friedman is pushing back on the idea that the window is closing. Tampa Bay still finished the 2025-26 season with a strong record, and the individual honors piled up again with Nikita Kucherov winning the Hart Trophy and Andrei Vasilevskiy taking home the Vezina, while Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel continued to give the roster the kind of support that keeps it in the contender tier.
Friedmans point is that there is still growth in this group, and that the Lightning have not necessarily hit their peak yet. He pointed to younger pieces as part of that optimism, including Sam OReilly, who is expected to begin 2026-27 with the Syracuse Crunch before trying to earn an NHL role, a reminder that Tampa Bays next push may depend as much on development as it does on the stars already in place. [Read more 🡒]
Why Steve Yzerman's Legacy Looks So Different Outside Tampa Bay
Steve Yzermans reputation in Tampa Bay was built on a simple formula: draft well, develop patiently and keep the roster stocked with enough young talent to sustain success. In Detroit, the same approach never produced the same kind of payoff. The Red Wings spent years trying to climb back into relevance under his watch, and the biggest question around his tenure has been why the blueprint that worked so cleanly with the Lightning did not translate when he was running the other side of the Atlantic.
Part of the answer sits in the draft board, where Detroit has not gotten enough impact help outside the first round and has been left waiting on several high picks to become difference-makers. The blue line has been another sore spot, even with Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson forming a promising top pair, and some of the roster-building decisions on defense have only sharpened the scrutiny. For a general manager whose Tampa Bay legacy still carries real weight, the contrast in Detroit is hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Fans Finally Have The 2026-27 Schedule They've Been Waiting For
The wait is over for Lightning fans looking ahead to the 2026-27 season, as the club released its regular-season schedule with a few familiar staples and a slightly expanded slate. Tampa Bay will play 84 games instead of the usual 82, with an even 42 at home and 42 on the road, and each Atlantic Division opponent will come around four times, splitting the matchups evenly between Amalie Arena and the road.
There is plenty for fans to circle already, starting with the first home game Oct. 3 against the Washington Capitals. The home calendar also brings some intriguing dates later in the year, and single-game tickets are set to go on sale Aug. 14, giving supporters their first real chance to start planning around a schedule that should shape the season well before puck drop. [Read more 🡒]