- Lightning sign forward Jansen Harkins to a one-year, two-way contract
- The 29-year-old spent the last two seasons in the Anaheim organization
- Read below for the contract terms and what Harkins brings to Tampa Bay’s bottom six
The Lightning added some forward depth on Friday.
Tampa Bay signed Jansen Harkins to a one-year, two-way contract, giving the 29-year-old a fresh start after two seasons in the Anaheim organization. The deal carries an $850,000 cap hit at the NHL level and pays $250,000 in the minors, with $400,000 guaranteed for 2026-27.
Harkins is a bottom-six center who kills penalties and chips in on the forecheck. He won’t light up the scoresheet, but he gives Jon Cooper another body down the middle and an easy recall if injuries pile up.
The last two years in Anaheim were a grind. Harkins split 2024-25 between the Ducks and the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, then spent all of 2025-26 with the big club. Injuries and healthy scratches held him to 44 games before hand surgery ended his season in late March.
He’s been around the block. Winnipeg took him 47th overall in the 2015 draft, and he’s logged 269 NHL games across seven seasons with the Jets, Penguins, and Ducks. His best run came in 2021-22, when he played a career-high 77 games with Winnipeg and posted 13 points.
There’s been steady movement in Tampa this offseason. The Lightning brought in John Carlson on a two-year deal earlier in free agency, and Harkins is the kind of cheap, flexible add that rounds out the bottom of the roster.
If he sticks in the NHL, Tampa gets a reliable fourth-liner for next to nothing. If not, he’s an experienced hand for AHL Syracuse.
