‘It really means a lot’: Goncalves re-signs with Lightning on two-year deal

The Tampa Bay Lightning kicked off 2025 NHL free agency by retaining the talents of a player their fans got to know well last season.

Tampa Bay announced a fresh two-year deal for young forward Gage Goncalves, who just wrapped up his rookie season in the NHL. The 24-year-old forward signed a two-year contract with a $1.2 million AAV.

Goncalves spoke via Zoom on Tuesday afternoon and shared his excitement to stay in Tampa Bay. Goncalves was originally a second-round draft pick by the Lightning in 2020 and has spent his entire professional career with the organization between the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League and the Lightning.

"All we've ever kind of known is Tampa and Syracuse and the way the development staff is and everybody in that organization,” Goncalves said. “It really means a lot to sign this deal with them, and hopefully I can just keep growing as a player and kind of as a person in Tampa.”

Goncalves scored eight goals and 20 points across 60 NHL games with Tampa Bay last season, his first extended NHL look. He scored 11 points across his final 19 regular season games with the Lightning, and his 20 points tied him for the most points by a Lightning rookie over the last five seasons (Nick Perbix 2022-23).

He then followed that with his first career Stanley Cup Playoffs goal, and his four playoff points tied Nikita Kucherov for second-most on the Lightning.

Goncalves hopes to build on that offense this season.

“I definitely want to shoot the puck a little bit more this year and be more of a dual threat because I think it just helps our team, and it makes good players a lot better if they can kind of have that double threat to them,” he said. “But I'd still say playmaking is probably my best ability.”

He said his teammates helped him greatly throughout the season, particularly crediting forward Nick Paul for welcoming both him and Conor Geekie to the NHL. Texts were starting to roll in for Goncalves from his teammates on Tuesday, and he’s excited to share the ice with them again this winter.

“I think the biggest guy that kind of helped me just grow with my confidence and my game is definitely Nick Paul. He's kind of been like a little bit of an older brother…He's been unbelievable,” Goncalves said, “whether it's just going for dinner, talking about the game or not getting too high or too low on the bench if something good happens…They’re pretty fired up, and I’m excited to see them there in a couple of weeks.”

Lightning add more players Tuesday

Goncalves’ signing started the day, but Tampa Bay made multiple other transactions, some of them including more familiar faces:

The Lightning added 26-year-old forward Pontus Holmberg to the fold on a two-year, one-way contract worth an AAV of $1.55 million.

The left-shooting Swede played 68 NHL games last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring seven goals and 19 points while averaging 12 minutes, 40 seconds of time on ice per game.

Holmberg had 19 goals and 49 points with a plus-15 rating in 159 career NHL games with Toronto and has appeared in 19 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He represented Team Sweden at the 2024 IIHF Men’s World Championships, helping Sweden to a bronze medal with six assists in 10 games.

Tampa Bay also signed forward Tristan Allard to a two-year, entry-level contract after the 23-year-old forward scored seven goals and 16 points with the Syracuse Crunch in 2024-25 on an AHL contract.

Allard originally signed with Tampa Bay in 2023 as an undrafted free agent. The 6-foot-2, 196-pound forward has played 108 career AHL games.

Former second-round Lightning draft pick Boris Katchouk is returning to the Lightning organization on a one-year, two-way contract that was signed on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old forward's 49 points for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2024-25 were second-most on the team and included 21 goals.

Katchouk has played 176 career NHL games between the Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators, scoring 15 goals and 36 points. He has 144 career points in 240 AHL games.

Tampa Bay also re-signed goalie Ryan Fanti to a one-year, two-way deal on Tuesday. The 25-year-old netminder split last season between Syracuse and the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL. He went 3-1-0 with a .946 save percentage in Syracuse while posting an 18-13-5 record and .907 save percentage with the Solar Bears.

A new face joining the organization is Nick Abruzzese, a 26-year-old forward who played 71 games in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies. Abruzzese is a former fourth-round pick by Toronto in the 2019 NHL Draft and played for Team USA at the 2022 Olympic Games.

His contract is a one-year, two-way deal.

The native of Slate Hill, New York scored 15 goals and 43 points for AHL Toronto last season and holds 47 goals to pair with 143 points in 211 career AHL games. He scored eight points in 12 Calder Cup Playoff games last season and has a goal and two assists across 11 career NHL games.

Defenseman Simon Lundmark joined the Lightning organization on Tuesday via a two-year, two-way contract. The 24-year-old from Sweden is a former second-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets and scored four goals and 14 points in 66 games with AHL Manitoba last season.

The 6-foot-2, 193-pound defenseman has played 254 career AHL games, all with Manitoba, recording 16 goals and 62 points.