- Ilya Mikheyev signs a four-year contract with the Lightning worth $3.85 million per season
- The 31-year-old winger leaves Chicago after a career-high 36 points last season
- Read below for the contract terms and what he brings to Tampa Bay
Ilya Mikheyev is off to Tampa.
The Lightning signed the veteran winger to a four-year contract on the opening day of free agency. The deal is worth $15.4 million total and carries a $3.85 million cap hit.
Tampa Bay made it official:
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun had the numbers on the deal:
This one had been building for a while. Back in the spring, Chicago was floating Mikheyev’s free agent rights on the trade market, which pushed the NHL to send around a memo reminding teams they can’t negotiate with unrestricted free agents before July 1.
Once free agency opened, the Lightning pounced.
Mikheyev is coming off the best offensive season of his career. He put up 18 goals and 36 points in 77 games with the Blackhawks while logging more than 17 minutes a night in a middle-six role.
His value runs deeper than the point totals. Mikheyev led Chicago in shorthanded ice time in each of the last two seasons, and the Blackhawks ran a top-five penalty kill over that stretch at 81.5 percent.
He’s a two-time 20-goal scorer, hitting the mark in just 53 games during 2021-22 and again over a full 80-game slate in 2024-25. Mikheyev broke into the league with Toronto in 2019.
In Tampa, he slots into a third-line role with room to climb. A deeper top nine could nudge his goal total back up, and the Lightning grab a dependable penalty-killer on a cap hit that won’t hurt.
Now 31, Mikheyev cashes in on his first trip through unrestricted free agency and lands a four-year home in Tampa.
