“I grew up as a kid there”. “Staying in Tampa was the number one priority”.
Advertisement
Coming of a regular season where he appeared in 77 games and accumulated 64 points (36 goals, 28 assists), Stamkos missed nearly all of Tampa’s playoff run with a blood clot.
“With the restricted players you have a better idea what the contract is going to be, it just depends on the terms, ” Yzerman said. It’s the same type of mindset exhibited by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who has rejigged his contract a couple of times in order to free up the financial resources for his organization to bring in the type of talent to win a championship.
He became one of the few players to win Olympic gold and Lord Stanley’s mug in the same year.
“I can’t say that all the different scenarios [don’t] cross your mind when you’re going through a process like this”, Stamkos said on a media conference call Thursday.
The No. 1 available goalie is James Reimer, but he could be a victim of the musical chairs that played out in National Hockey League goal creases last week, when the two teams badly needing a new starter, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Calgary Flames, went elsewhere to fill their needs. Kucherov, who is coming off a 30-goal season for which he was paid the modest sum of $700,000, could be looking at a deal close to what Filip Forsberg just signed with Nashville.
Subban had been involved in trade rumors dating back to when he signed a $72 million, eight-year contract in the summer of 2014. “Ultimately Steven was willing to accept”, general manager Steve Yzerman said. “I’m very appreciative of both Victor and Peter Wallen’s efforts to reach an agreement with us at this time”.
This year, represents a whole new conundrum for GMs, as the 2016 free-agent season opens Friday. The Oliers get salary cap space to possibly sign free agent Lucic with Hall’s $6 million annual salary heading to New Jersey.
The “dire” salary cap situation in Tampa Bay doesn’t appear to be so threatening to the team’s short-term dealings after all.
But after Vasilevskiy’s extension, it already has $48.6 million designated to 11 players in 2017-18. Forwards Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat (both now at $3.33 million) will be restricted free agents after next season.
“We are very pleased to announce the signing of Victor Hedman to an eight-year contract extension”.
Yzerman remained hopeful that a deal could be reached, saying as recently as last weekend that he had not closed the door on re-signing the team’s star. “It’s something that if someone asked me that was in a similar position now if they had a chance to do a deal and not have to worry about the distractions and the questions and all that stuff, then sure that’s definitely the easy route”. We want to keep a competitive group and a competitive team, so for us moving forward it’s going to important for everyone to buy in to that.
Advertisement
But in Stamkos and Hedman, the Lightning have got two big building blocks.
