TAMPA, Fla. — The Bolts are making sure some key team players stick around Tampa Bay for the foreseeable future.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, forward Anthony Cirelli and defenseman Erik Cernak each to an eight-year contract extension.
Sergachev had scored 36 goals with 174 points throughout his NHL career, earning him the fifth all-time ranking in franchise history among defensemen for goals and scoring and fourth for assists. The 24-year-old was first drafted to the league by Montreal in 2016.
Of his 362 career regular season games, 358 of them have been with the Lightning. Sergachev's eight-year contract is worth an AAV of $8.5 million, according to a press release from the team.
Cernak, who has skated all 226 career NHL games with the Lightning, notched a goal and 13 points and led Tampa Bay for hits during the 2021-2022 season. The 25-year-old defenseman scored the Stanley Cup-opening goal in Game 1 of the 2021 Cup Final against Montreal, becoming the first Tampa Bay player to net his first career playoff goal in a Stanley Cup Final.
Cernak's eight-year contract is worth an AAV of $5.2 million.
Cirelli has skated all 294 of his career NHL games with Tampa Bay. In the 2021-2022 season, the 24-year-old led the team's forwards for blocked shots, with 67, and ranked sixth in the league for penalties drawn, with 42.
He ranks 11th all-time in Lightning playoff history for scoring. According to the Lightning, Cirelli’s eight-year contract is worth an AAV of $6.25 million.
Bolts Vice President and General Manager Julien BriseBois announced the contract extensions on Wednesday along with the news of some other additions to the team.
In addition, both Cirelli and Bogosian underwent shoulder surgery, BriseBois said. They'll miss the start of the 2022 season with a four-to-six month recovery.
The Lightning signed defenseman Ian Cole, who played the 2021-2022 regular season with the Carolina Hurricanes, to a one-year contract worth an AAV of $3 million.
The left-shot defenseman has career regular season totals of 29 goals, 165 points and a plus-131 rating, the team said in a release.
Forward Vladislav Namestnikov will also join the roster on a one-year contract worth an AAV of $2.5 million.
Namestnikov most recently played for the Dallas Stars and joined the NHL as a first-round draft pick of the Bolts in 2011. He netted 16 goals and 30 points in 75 games last season.
Unfortunately, the Bolts were unable to lock in Ondrej Palat for another season. BriseBois said during interviews Wednesday that Palat will be signing elsewhere.
"We knew it was gonna be hard from the get-go," BriseBois said on keeping Palat.
But the vice president and general manager said that he wishes Palat the best in his future and noted that he'll go down as one of the best Lightning players in Bolts history.