Lightning sign Ilya Mikheyev, Jeffrey Viel to contracts

General manager Julien BriseBois and the Tampa Bay Lightning are hard at work fortifying the team’s roster after a fourth consecutive year in which the team failed to get out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Shortly after the opening of unrestricted free agency at 12:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday, the Lightning signed depth forwards Ilya Mikheyev and Jeffrey Viel to contracts.

Mikheyev has signed a four-year deal that will come with an average annual value of $3.85 million, while Viel’s contract will run for five years and carry a salary cap hit of $2.5 million.

Follow along with Daily Faceoff’s live free agency tracker here.

Mikheyev, a 31-year-old winger with excellent speed, spent the 2025-26 with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he produced 36 points on 18 goals and 18 assists in 77 games played. Over the course of his seven-year NHL career, which also includes stops in Toronto and Vancouver, Mikheyev 98 goals and 103 assists for 201 points in 427 career appearances.

Viel is a 29-year-old native of Quebec who had a solid season with the Anaheim Ducks, racking up 10 points in 35 games after coming over from the Boston Bruins. Viel broke into the league in the 2020-21 season with San Jose, and he brings a solid defensive game as a depth forward.

Both players ranked within Matt Larkin’s top 50 free agents, with Mikheyev checking in at No. 22 and Viel at No. 50.

Following these signings, Tampa Bay now has 14 legitimate NHL forwards under contract for next season, and according to PuckPedia, still has about $8.5 million in space under the upper limit of the salary cap to make further additions.

Still on BriseBois’ to-do list this summer could be an extension for Nikita Kucherov, who has one year remaining on his current contract and became eligible to sign a new deal when the new league year began at noon.

You can watch along with Daily Faceoff’s live coverage of NHL free agency below…