Every July, teams around the NHL have a golden opportunity to upgrade their roster. The first week of free agency is one of the most exciting times of the year for hockey fans. Star players change teams, role players receive lucrative contracts, and sometimes intelligent signings are made. Ultimately, free agency is a boom or bust for most front offices. Too often, we witness contracts that teams regret down the line and ruin their chance at competing for the Stanley Cup.
Related: 4 NHL Trades That Set Up Successful Rebuilds
How have the Tampa Bay Lightning done in free agency in recent years? I started a mini-series two weeks ago examining previous free agency classes for the Lightning, starting with 2019. Since the summer of 2020 was a quiet off-season following their Stanley Cup championship, Tampa Bay made no significant signings to grade. Fast forward to the 2021 off-season, they added a few roster pieces following their second straight Stanley Cup win over the Montreal Canadiens. Now, let’s assign a letter grade to each of their signings in the summer of 2021.
Corey Perry
The Lightning front office sought to craft a new fourth line for the 2021-22 season. Therefore, the club signed Corey Perry to a two-year deal with an average annual value (AAV) of $1 million. Perry would be part of the most dominant fourth lines the Lightning ever assembled. Two summers earlier, they added Pat Maroon to bring physicality to the bottom-six, who would team up with Perry to form a grind line. Perry spent the prior season on the opposite side of the Lightning’s Stanley Cup win over the Canadiens. He notched a solid 21 points in 49 games during the shortened 2020-21 season.
The Anaheim Ducks legend found his touch again in his first season with Tampa Bay, recording 19 goals and 40 points in 82 games. He provided a veteran presence to the locker room while also being effective at the net front position on the power play. While the aging forward saw a role decrease in his second season with the Lightning, this deal was a bargain for both sides. A veteran presence who dominated the fourth-line minutes and put up points for $1 million per season was fantastic work by general manager Julien BriseBois.
Grade: B+
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Every forward line in hockey needs a center to take face-offs. The Lightning found the last piece of what would be their fourth line for the next two seasons in free agency. BriseBois signed Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to center Pat Maroon and Corey Perry on a two-year deal with an AAV of $1 million. The French forward bounced between contending teams prior to the deal, spending two seasons each with the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights. A reliable defensive center, Bellemare could grab anywhere between 15-20 points a season on the fourth line.
Bellemare wasn’t known for his offensive skill, but he was great in the face-off circle and on the penalty kill. He matched a career-best nine goals with the Lightning in 2021-22, but saw his offensive production dip the following season similar to Perry. However, a penalty killer and face-off guy for $1 million isn’t a bad deal whatsoever. Bellemare was a decent signing for the Lightning, who would be replaced with a cheaper option, Luke Glendening, for the 2023-24 season.
Grade: C+
Zach Bogosian
A grizzled defenseman, Zach Bogosian won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2019-20. However, he decided to join another Atlantic Division roster for the following season. He signed a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs before returning to the Lightning on a three-year deal with an AAV of $850,000 for the 2021-22 season. Despite missing out on a second ring with Tampa Bay, Bogosian was back in Thunder Alley for the next three seasons.
Bogosian was a fringe NHL defender for the Lightning in his second run with the team. He didn’t receive much ice time, and didn’t add much on either side of the puck. Due to injuries, he recorded career-worst offensive numbers in Tampa Bay and never played a full season with the team. After just four games in the final year of his deal, the Lightning dealt his services to the Minnesota Wild. While the money against the cap wasn’t significant, Bogosian didn’t provide the best impact on the ice.
Grade: D+
Brian Elliott
After Curtis McElhinney announced his retirement, the Lightning were in search of a new backup goaltender for superstar Andrei Vasilevskiy. They knew they could save money at the backup position, since their elite starter would play 80% of their games. The organization went the veteran route once again, signing Brian Elliott to a one-year deal worth $900,000. He spent the previous four seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, where he did not play a major role in net.
Elliott played just 19 games under this deal with the Lightning, grabbing 11 wins while posting a .912 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.43 goals-against average (GAA). Furthermore, Elliott recorded a 0.05 goals saved above expected (GSAx) value (via Evolving Hockey). Ultimately, Elliott was an average backup for the Lightning who got the job done at a reasonable price tag.
Grade: C
Closing Thoughts
The 2021 off-season brought a lot of change for the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. The Lightning simply added depth to the lineup in an attempt to remain competitive. In the end, they reached the Stanley Cup Final for the third straight season, but lost to Colorado in six games. Perry and Bellemare were excellent veteran fourth-line pieces for head coach Jon Cooper. Plus, Elliott was a serviceable backup netminder for the team. They continued to rely on the trade deadline for their most newsworthy roster moves, just like they did in previous years.
