The Tampa Bay Lightning signed forward Jake Guentzel to a seven-year contract with an average annual value of $9 million on Monday.
The Bolts traded a 2025 third-round pick to the Carolina Hurricanes to acquire his rights on Sunday. Guentzel and Carolina were reportedly negotiating an eight-year, $64-million pact before the trade.
Guentzel is now the third-highest-paid player on Tampa Bay's books behind Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, who each make $9.5 million annually.
News broke that Tampa Bay was setting its sights on the prized winger after creating cap space by trading Mikhail Sergachev and Tanner Jeannot on Saturday.
Carolina acquired Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a pre-deadline blockbuster. He notched 25 points in 17 games with the Hurricanes, adding nine more in the playoffs as the club bowed out in the second round at the hands of the New York Rangers.
Guentzel is a two-time 40-goal-scorer, and he won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2017. The 29-year-old could be a replacement for captain Steven Stamkos, who's testing the market Monday after 16 years with the Lightning.
