Lightning sign Jake Guentzel, head free agent while waiting to take him off the market

TAMPA — In a less complicated situation, this would have been Jake Guentzel’s time. But the Lightning’s biggest signing of a new player in franchise history almost served as a sidebar to what the organization lost when free agency opened Monday.

There’s no doubt fans should be excited about Guentzel’s arrival after he signed a seven-year deal with the Lightning worth an average annual value of $9 million, but he could be forever linked to the player the organization showed the door that same day — longtime captain Steven Stamkos.

Guentzel, 29, has all the tools to make the Lightning a better team. He has a remarkable knack for finding scoring opportunities around the net and has teamed up with elite talent. He should therefore fit in well on the left wing of Tampa Bay’s first line with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.

But it didn’t take long, during his first media availability as Bolt on Monday, for the questions facing Guentzel to turn to the pressure he might face in essentially replacing the longtime face of the Lightning franchise. Stamkos finalized an acrimonious split with the organization minutes after free agency opened at noon by signing a four-year contract with Nashville worth an annual average of $8 million.

“Listen, he’s a Hall of Famer, he’s a special player,” Guentzel said an hour before free agency opened Monday. “I have the utmost respect for the guy. He’s an incredible player and person from what I’ve heard, so I’m not really sure what’s going on or what happened.”

“It’s part of the business. You don’t really know what’s going to happen, but obviously this opportunity for me and my family was hard to pass up. In this hockey game, there will be pressure everywhere you play, so I feel like you just have to make sure you make the most of the opportunity.

Guentzel knew how to make the most of the opportunities available to him throughout his career.

He won the Stanley Cup during his rookie season in Pittsburgh in 2016-17, leading the league with 13 goals in the playoffs, including five game-winning goals. He has capitalized on his first-line role alongside players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Maklkin, scoring 30 or more goals each of the last three seasons. And he increased his value as a free agent when he joined Carolina at last season’s trade deadline, averaging 1.47 points late in the season, then adding nine points in 11 playoff games.

Once the Lightning backed away from signing Stamkos, Guentzel became the team’s top target and general manager Julien BriseBois freed up cap space. After trading top-paid defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and underperforming forward Tanner Jeannot on Saturday and halting talks to retain Stamkos, Tampa Bay went from a team with just $5.335 million in cap space to a team of 16, 5 million dollars.

After Guentzel and Carolina failed to reach an agreement, the Lightning traded his rights Sunday and finalized a deal with him three hours before free agency opened.

“It was definitely a whirlwind, it was my first time going through this process, but things didn’t work out at Carolina,” Guentzel said. “And then I heard Tampa was going to trade my rights and I was really excited, because everybody knows how good that team is and what a great place it is. … Obviously, it was a really exciting time for me and my family. I can’t wait to get out there and see what it’s all about.”

Guentzel, 29, received the largest salary for a player signed off-season in Lightning history. The seven-year contract matched that offered by the franchise to Ryan Malone in the summer of 2008.

“There’s nothing but positives about Tampa and there seems to be so many of them, living that lifestyle, the atmosphere in the rink is unbelievable,” Guentzel said. “And if (money is) part of it too, that’s great. So there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that you’re really excited about. It’s going to be a really fun time.”

BriseBois used its new cap space and Florida’s favorable tax situation to secure a deal that Guentzel couldn’t refuse. More than $53 million of the total deal value is going toward signing bonuses, giving him nearly 85 percent of his money upfront each season, including a $12,263 signing bonus this season.

Guentzal will play on a base salary of $1 million for six of seven years. The contract includes a full no-move clause for the first four years and an amended clause with a 10-team trade list for the final three years.

BriseBois has been consistent in his message throughout the offseason that the Lightning need to improve defensively after ranking 22nd in the league in goals allowed. The acquisition of Guentzel accomplishes that, giving the team a responsible, two-way 5-on-5 player who can slot into the left wing slot on the top line.

Guentzel excelled for years in Pittsburgh on the same line as one of the game’s best point guards in Crosby. He’ll now skate with the league’s best right-handed point guard in Kucherov and former 50-goal scorer Point on a formidable top-tier forward line.

“Those two guys are elite players in this league, the best players in the league, by far, we try to watch them play more often than anyone,” Guentzel said. “They can obviously score a lot of goals and make a lot of plays.

“So if that happens where I’m playing with them, I’m really excited to try to get open for them and give them the puck as much as possible. …I’ve had the experience of playing with some good players, and if I get a chance to play with these guys, it’ll be really fun for me and I can’t wait.

Still, the Lightning would like to upgrade their other three lines. Even with Guentzel, they have $7.5 million in cap space, and an extension for defenseman Victor Hedman could come as early as today, the first day players entering the final year of their contracts can sign one.

This story will be updated.

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