Seeing players come and go has become a familiar trend for the Tampa Bay Lightning. As soon as they won their first Stanley Cup, the question started to arise about who was going to leave next. A handful of names stand out in particular who are pending free agents. This isn’t implying that they are guaranteed to be the next to go, but since they are prominent players with expiring contracts, they stand out.
Let’s take a look at the four notable pending free agents on the team heading into the 2025-26 season.
As a note, to qualify for this list, a player must have played for the Lightning last season. For example, recently re-signed Boris Katchouk is a pending free agent because he signed a one-year deal. He doesn’t count. We’re also sticking to unrestricted free agents, so JJ Moser, who is a restricted free agent, will sit this one out, too. It’s a different situation and therefore a discussion for another story, another time.
Ryan McDonagh
Even with all the moving back and forth between Tampa Bay and Nashville, Ryan McDonagh is still under the same contract he inked with the Lightning back in July 2018. That seven-year deal has finally reached its end. The Lightning were happy to have him back last season. McDonagh seemed happy to be back as well. Many would like to see him finish his career in a Lightning sweater.
However, his status is still a wait-and-see. Lightning fans don’t want to hear that after Steven Stamkos, but it’s already been decided that talks will be an after-the-season thing. On the bright side, at least this has all been communicated. According to the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduard Encina, Julien BriseBois has told McDonagh that the likely plan is to discuss an extension after the season.
Oliver Bjorkstrand
I’m aware that Oliver Bjorkstrand barely qualifies for this list. He came in at the trade deadline from the Seattle Kraken with Yanni Gourde. Since he was more than just a rental and is expected to return and be healthy this season, he counts.
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Bjorkstrand took a few games to adjust to playing in the Lightning system, but was more than effective once he got going. After having one point in his first seven games with the Lightning, he rattled off four goals and four assists for eight points in his final 11 games of the season.
Bjorkstrand missed playoff action due to a rare, serious injury called compartment syndrome, in which heightened pressure around a muscle restricts proper blood flow. He had to undergo emergency surgery at Tampa General Hospital to prevent permanent damage. Fortunately for him, he’s expected to be ready to go this season.
The winger has been good for at least 20 goals in six of the last seven seasons and has put up over 50 points twice in that span. The expectation, according to Encina in the same report on McDonagh, is that Bjorkstrand will also be looked at for another contract after the season.
Having him back healthy should provide a major boost to the Lightning’s offense which they lacked in the playoffs.
Mitchell Chaffee
Mitchell Chaffee took on a larger role with the Lightning last season, providing the team with occasional scoring and consistent physicality on the ice. In 66 games, he had 12 goals and six assists for 18 points, while having 133 hits and 21 blocked shots. He could be developing into a solid bottom-six option, and it’ll be worth seeing if he ups his game again in 2025-26.
His $800,000 salary is going to go up, whether because the minimum salary is increasing in the league or because of his market value.
Darren Raddysh
The 29-year-old defenseman has been one of the better success stories on the team in the last couple of years. He was an undrafted free agent and hung around the American Hockey League (AHL) for four seasons until making his way into the Lightning’s system and making his debut during the 2021-22 season.
He saw his first real sample size of action the following season, playing in 17 regular-season games and all six games of the first round loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Since then, Darren Raddysh has been an everyday player and has improved offensively each season. In 2023-24, he averaged 0.4 points per game and improved to 0.51 points per game in 2024-25.
He’s due for a pay raise from the $975,000 he’ll make this upcoming season, but it would be worth it for the Lightning to find a contract that keeps him around.
Finding a way to keep all four of these guys while still having cap space to add in 2026-27 would be huge for the Lightning. For once, they’d be hanging onto additions, or re-additions, long-term as opposed to having to scrape the bottom of the barrel for exclusively cap-constrained options. At the very least, a success would be hanging onto three of them. Whether they can or want to will be decided by how the season and discussions play out. We’ll touch base on this in about 10 or 11 months.
