Lightning Reach Long Term Deal With Tyler Johnson

Lightning Ink Johnson To 7-Year Deal

The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed forward Tyler Johnson to a seven-year contract worth $5MM per season, vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman announced yesterday. The contract will keep Johnson in a Lightning sweater through the 2023-2024 season.

“He’s one of our core players,” Yzerman told Joe Smith Tampa Bay Times. “He’s in the prime of his career, and we’re pleased to lock him up for a significant period of time.”

Last season in 66 games with the Bolts, Johnson scored 19 goals tallying 45 points. His 19 goals were third on the team and his point total landed him fifth.  He was a key cog on the power-play unit ranking third in goals and fifth in points.

Absolutely thrilled to be a part of @tblightning for another 7 years! Proud to be able to call Tampa my second home. Can’t wait to get this season started. Thank you everyone for the support, you guys are the best! Let’s get to work!

A post shared by Tyler Johnson (@tjohnny09) on Jul 10, 2017 at 4:19pm PDT

Since being signed by the Lightning as a free agent on March 7, 2011, Johnson has played in 308 career games.  In five seasons with the Bolts he has 89 goals and 211 points and 102 penalty minutes.

He has also appeared in 47 career NHL postseason games, registering 21 goals and 42 points.  In the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs he led all skaters with goals (13) and was tied for first with Patrick Kane for points with 23 points.

Johnson, along with Ondrej Palat, were the Lightning’s final two restricted free agents. According to Cap Friendly, the Bolts had around $14MM in cap space prior to the deal, so it appears that there is plenty of room to get a Palat deal done.

The Lightning will continue to solidify their roster after missing the playoffs last season after reaching the Stanley Cup final in 2015 and the Eastern Conference finals in 2016.