Back in mid-September, Sportsnet aired a brief interview segment with the captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Steven Stamkos, expressing his disappointment in the lack of extension conversations the Lightning have been willing to have over the course of the summer. A few days later, Elliotte Friedman, also of Sportsnet, reported that the going notion at the moment is that Tampa Bay ’wouldn’t be crushed’ to see Stamkos leave next summer.
In a minor update to the drama surrounding a potential contract extension for the Lightning’s captain, Pierre LeBrun of TSN reports that the General Manager of Tampa Bay, Julien Brisebois, had already indicated to Stamkos that they would be waiting until the end of next season to address the future between the two parties, but would ultimately like to see Stamkos retire as a member of the Lightning.
Although it is generally unsurprising for most teams to want to wait until after the season to negotiate a new contract, this instance is more peculiar for the Lightning specifically. Throughout the last two offseasons, Tampa Bay has quickly given out sizeable extensions to all of Nick Paul, Erik Cernak, Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev, and Brandon Hagel. All of these players have been important pieces to the juggernaut the Lightning have become over the last several years, but they certainly do not have the pedigree of Stamkos in that organization.
At 33 years of age, and with over 1000 games played in a Lightning uniform, Stamkos is potentially staring down his last contract as a professional hockey player. Over the course of his career, having spent the last decade as the captain of the organization, Stamkos has been a part of four Tampa Bay teams to reach the Stanley Cup Final, winning two of them.
The Lightning are looking at a rebuild, It’s just part of the landscape for a team in this position, Tampa is better off moving Stamkos at or before the deadline.
They are not rebuilding lol
All those other negotiations were with young players. Stammer has had injury filled years and will be 34 next season. IT IS JUST MORE PRUDENT TO SEE WHAT CONDITION HE IS IN AT THE END OF THIS SEASON BEFORE GOING FORWARD.
Is this really an update? Seems like analysts trolling for a story in my opinion. Simply put, most players want an extension earlier than later and Stammer is no different. You also have a team that is up against the salary cap that needs to know what that upper limit will be. Lightning can’t sign a contract based on a projection, they need to know definite numbers.
Friedman referenced a quote he heard previously, not in relation to this current contract status.
Almost refreshing to see a team think rationally in contract negotiations with one of their veteran players. Here’s hoping Stammer enjoys a healthy & fruitful season to throw it back in their face.