The Tampa Bay Lightning extended qualifying offers to nine organizational players today. The deadline for qualifying restricted free agents was today at 5:00. Those players qualified by the Bolts are:
At the end of the day, what this means is that the Lightning retains the rights to these players. It doesn’t mean that they’ll be signed for the upcoming season. Should players (like Kristers Gudlevskis and Tanner Richard) head for Europe, it means that the Lightning can bring them back as an asset if the opportunity presents itself. Either way, none of these players are officially signed yet.