Lightning sign Pontus Holmberg, Simon Lundmark and Boris Katchouk to deals
Julien BriseBois continues to add organizational depth as free agency opened on Tuesday.
The Tampa Bay Lightning general manager announced that the team has signed forwards Pontus Holmberg and Boris Katchouk, along with defenseman Simon Lundmark, to contracts.
We’ve signed defenseman Simon Lundmark to a two-year, two-way contract.
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Holmberg comes to Tampa on a two-year contract, with an AAV of $1.55 million through the 2026-27 season. It’s a pay raise from his previous contract, which had a cap hit of $800,000 over the past two years.
The Swedish center has been a consistent presence in the lineup with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the past couple of seasons. After posting 17 points in 54 games during the 2023-24 season, Holmberg appeared in 68 games this past year, scoring seven goals and 12 assists for a career-high 19 points. He also averaged 12:40 of ice time during the 2024-25 campaign, the most in his career.
In 159 games in his NHL career, the 26-year-old has scored 19 goals and 30 assists for 49 points.
Lundmark joins the Lightning on a two-year, two-way contract. He’s coming off a one-year, two-way deal with the Winnipeg Jets, which had an NHL cap hit of $775,000.
Another Swede, Lundmark was taken by the Jets in the second round, 51st overall, of the 2019 NHL Draft. Since coming over to North America in 2021, the 24-year-old has spent the past four seasons with the Jets’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. In 254 appearances, he has scored 16 goals and 46 assists for 62 points, including playing in five Calder Cup Playoff games during his tenure with the team.
Katchouck returns to the organization on a one-year, two-way contract. It’s his first NHL contract since his three-year deal, which he initially signed with the Lightning in July 2021, ended at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season.
Katchouk spent last season on an American Hockey League contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ primary affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. In 67 games, the Vancouver native set career highs in goals (21), assists (28) and points (49).
In the three years before that, Katchouk saw time in the NHL with the Lightning, the Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators. In 176 NHL games, he’s scored 15 goals and 21 assists for 36 points. In 240 AHL appearances, Katchouk has notched 60 goals and 84 assists for 144 points.