Steven Stamkos tried to spark his Tampa Bay Lightning teammates in Game 7 in Pittsburgh. In the end, Stamkos' contributions to the cause were minimal.
Stamkos told the team's website that he tips his bucket to the courage and determination shown by his Bolts battalion in the face of adversity.
"Extremely proud. It was special for me to get back on the ice with these guys. With this group," Stamkos said after Tampa Bay's 2-1 defeat in the Eastern Conference Final. The Penguins will host the San Jose Sharks when the Stanley Cup Final opens on Memorial Day.
Stamkos:
"Such a tight group .. such a team that has gone through a lot this year. Different types of adversity. And we've come through with flying colors, but it just didn't happen tonight."
Stamkos shocked the hockey world when he arrived at the arena on the team bus, with his teammates, at 5:59 pm EDT. Stamkos took the warmup skate and played in his first game in 57 day after having successful surgery to treat a blood clot in his right collarbone. The blood thinner therapy that he was on was the reason for Stamkos' delay in rejoining the starting lineup. He was given the thumbs up by his surgeon and team doctors.
Stamkos skated just 11:55 TOI in the punch out game. He landed two shots on goal, delivered two hits, and lost 62% of his draws.
The two months on the shelf must have killed him to his core. He felt well enough to play, however, couldn't risk cutting himself and suffering a medical emergency while on his Coumadin blood thinner therapy.My take:
I'm happy that Stamkos was well enough to represent his boys in Game 7. I think it says a lot about the captain that he threw caution to the wind and offered his skill and leadership to his teammates when they needed it the most in an elimination game. If they would have won Game 7 and cinched a Stanley Cup berth, Stamkos would have been immortalized for his resilience and movy. A Bolts victory with Stammer on the ice would have cemented his place in hockey lore right up there with the captains Messier, Yzerman, and Toews.
Shoulda. Coulda. Woulda.
It wasn't meant to be.
It certainly didn't hurt Stakos' value on the open market that 29 NHL suitors got to see Stammer skate, hit, defend, shoot and check opponents with no issues in Game 7.
The Lightning lost the series and it's all retrospective analysis now.
I think Stamkos was saying goodbye to the Bolts and their fans by playing on Thursday night. It was a victory lap. A thank you. A closing of his Tampa chapter of his career. If the Bolts were going to re-sign Stamkos, it would have happened last June, days before his no move clause kicked in on July 1. Let's not forget that Sabres GM Tim Murray monitored the Stamkos matter last June and made a trade proposal to Steve Yzerman prior to July 1, 2015. Murray ostensibly wad putting his "ghost man" on first base with regard to expressing real interest for wanting to acquire Stamkos. Here we al sit, 11 months later and Stamkos still doesn't have a max out contract extension signed, sealed, delivered. That's because Yzerman isn't going to move forward with his captain. Stamkos is looking for a multi-year deal with an AAV north of $8.5M.
There is only so much money to invest in player contracts. Yzerman has key RFAS to pay now in Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn, Cedric Paquette, Nikita Nesterov, and Vlad Namenstikov. Victor Hedman will become UFA in July 2017 and he will be receiving a monster, max out deal for himself.
Its not official yet, however, its very, very, very likely that Stamkos will test unrestricted free agency. He will hand select his team of choice and will get paid a king's ransom.
I'm operating on the assumption that Stamkos knows he's leaving Tampa and he knows the parting will be painful. He spent eight years of his life there. He wants to win Stanley Cups. He wants to be paid at the top of the NHL pay scale. The one element that is over looked by many, but not me, is that Stamkos is great friends with his mentor and former teammate Marty St. Louis whose departure from Tampa was handled clumsily, to say the least. St. Louis demanded a trade from Tampa on more than one occasion due to his unhappiness. Stamkos observed the way that Bolts management handled the icon who is the best player in Lightning franchise history. Yzerman sent a message with his trade of St. Louis to the Rangers for Ryan Callahan,. The message was loud and clear: no one player is bigger than the team. One assumes that Stamkos didn't like the way Yzerman handled the St. Louis matter and he doesn't like the way that his own contract situation transpired in Tampa. Perhaps Stamkos holds a grudge against Yzerman and will opt out to unrestricted free agency.
I have said it before and I will continue to say so. Stamkos will end up in Buffalo or Detroit. Toronto will dip their beak in the Stamkos pool as well.
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