*Photo from Daily Faceoff*
Here's a big transition. LW/RW Jake Guentzel and the Tampa Bay Lightning have agreed to a 7 year, $63 million contract. The Lightning confirmed the signing.
The day before free agency opened, the Lightning traded for Guentzel's rights from the Carolina Hurricanes and were able to begin negotiating a contract. Just before the market opened Monday, the deal was done and Guentzel was locked in to Tampa Bay.
As for the contract itself, it's a big one. Guentzel is set to make $9 million annually and has just over $53 million of his $63 million contract due in signing bonus money spread out over each year. He also has a full no movement clause for the first 4 years, followed by a modified no trade clause in the form of a 10 team trade list.
The past season was another very productive one for the versatile winger. Split between the Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins, Guentzel had 30 goals and 47 assists while averaging 20:01 of ice time per game in 67 games. He added 4 goals and 5 assists in 11 playoff games.
Guentzel said of signing with the Lightning "It’s definitely been a little bit of a whirlwind, kind of first time through this whole process. Obviously things just didn’t work out in Carolina, then I heard Tampa might be trading for my rights and obviously I got really excited because everyone hears how good of a team and how good of a spot this is."
"Got the trade call yesterday and kind of just worked through some things. It’s obviously a really exciting time for me and my family. I just can’t wait to get down there and see what it’s all about. You hear a bunch of good things about them and the organization as well. I’m really fortunate for this opportunity and it’s going to be fun for me and my family."
The $9 million annual salary for Guentzel makes him the 3rd highest paid player on the Lightning roster, behind the $9.5 million given annually to both Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Guentzel has won the Stanley Cup once, that being in his rookie season with the Penguins in 2016-2017.
Guentzel has 8 years in the NHL under his belt, split between Carolina and Pittsburgh since debuting in 2016-2017. He has picked up 227 goals and 264 assists for 491 points, averaging 19:08 of ice time in 520 regular season games, also authoring a +69 rating. He has 38 goals and 29 assists across 69 playoff games.
With the Lightning having traded Mikail Sergachev to Utah and Tanner Jeannot to the Los Angeles Kings, they freed up the cap space to bring in Guentzel. They did however lose captain and franchise face Steven Stamkos, who signed with the Nashville Predators when the market opened.
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