3 Forwards Lightning Should Still Target In Free Agency

The Tampa Bay Lightning have had a very interesting last few days. The team traded Mikhail Sergachev and Tanner Jeannot in separate deals, brought in and signed Jake Guentzel, let captain Steven Stamkos walk in free agency, and more.

The Lightning moved on from two big pieces and freed up a lot of cap space, only to get Guentzel signed and bring in two fourth line players at best. With only JJ Moser left to sign, the Lightning have over $6.5 million to spend this year. Now that the first day of free agency has passed and a lot of teams have the players they want, free agents start to become a little cheaper and perfect for the picking for teams like Tampa Bay. With a need to bolster the bottom-6, here are three players who haven't signed that can still do so.

Daniel Sprong has been underappreciated the last couple of seasons and the 27-year-old continues to prove that he can be an effective offensive contributor despite a lack of playing time in the top-6. Over the past two seasons, Sprong has reached 40+ points while averaging under 12 minutes per game. He has 39 goals and 89 points in 142 games combined over the past two seasons with two different teams and is coming off a $2 million AAV contract. If the trend continues, the Lightning could get him for a very good price and give the bottom-6 the offense it once had.

Tomas Tatar was a very productive complementary forward through most of his career, but last season saw his production dip a fair bit. I don't believe he was in the right situation to succeed as he once had as Tatar scored 20 goals and 48 points the season prior. The seven-time 20-goal scorer should be able to bounce back this season if given a contract in Tampa Bay with a couple solid third liners beside him.

Mike Hoffman can still shoot the puck and score goals, he was just on a league-worst San Jose Sharks team last season. Coming off a larger contract, he won't require much money at all to sign in Tampa Bay. The sniper may have scored just 10 goals last season in 66 games, but he is a six-time 20-goal scorer and one-time 30-goal scorer. It wouldn't be a risk for the Lightning at all to bring him in on a cheap contract.