The news of Anze Kopitar and the Los Angeles Kings agreeing to an 8-year, $80 Million contract extension may have ramifications regarding the potential availability of Steven Stamkos as an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The two-time Stanley Cup winner is 28 years old and wanted to stay with the club selected him 11th overall in 2005, but he was still was able to get the Kings to pay the third-highest salary in the NHL behind Chicago’s Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
Kopitar is a top-end first line center, who can play at both ends of the ice and score between 65-70 points per season, while Stamkos is more of a sniper than a playmaker (295 career goals in 535 NHL games compared to 230 goals in 725 career games for Kopitar).
The signing likely makes it more difficult for Tampa GM Steve Yzerman to get Stamkos to agree to any deal less than Kopitar’s AAV (if he is even willing to offer that) and could set up the 25-year-old Markham, ON native to get offers in excess of Toews/Kane’s $10.5 Million salary in free agency this July.
In spite of Stamkos denying a rift with Lightning coach Jon Cooper and stating publicly that he wanted to remain in Tampa, there have been no hints of any progress towards a deal between Yzerman and Newport Sports.
With the possibility of no increase in the salary cap due to the decreasing Canadian dollar for 2016, the Lightning’s task to re-sign Stamkos will be more difficult without that additional $2-to-3 Million in cap space.
It also means that if it is the goal of Stamkos to be among the highest paid players in the game, the Maple Leafs with potentially $30-35 Million in available cap space could be the destination.
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The Maple Leafs are back into action on Wednesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets following a California road trip where the club went 1-2-0.
James Reimer will get the start against the Blue Jackets, who lost 5-2 to the NY Islanders on Tuesday night, while rookie Joonas Korpisalo will make the start for Columbus after Anton Forsberg took the loss in Brooklyn.
The Jackets are 3-6-1 in their last games and injuries to both veteran goalies Sergei Bobrovsky and Curtis McElhinney have put head coach John Tortorella in a near impossible position.
Starting the season with nine straight losses, subpar seasons from veterans Nick Foligno and Jack Johnson, the goaltending situation and last week’s trade of top-line center Ryan Johansen for defenseman Seth Jones all point to the Blue Jackets being on a track towards finishing with the league’s worst record and the best chance of winning the draft lottery to select Auston Matthews next June.
That now may be the same course for the Maple Leafs, after losing leading scorer James van Riemsdyk for up to two months with a broken foot. Shawn Matthias will take the place of van Riemsdyk on the top line with Tyler Bozak and PA Parenteau, while rookie Josh Leivo will take Matthias’ position on the fourth line with Byron Froese and Brad Boyes.
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The Toronto Marlies continue their five-game road trip in Utica on Wednesday without their top two forwards in William Nylander and Leivo, but get reinforcements with Mark Arcobello, Kasperi Kapanen, Garret Sparks and Antoine Bibeau all returning.
“There is not going to be any type of pushing him to come back any sooner or earlier.… Leafs assistant GM Kyle Dubas said of Nylander, who started to skate this week. “He’s 19 years old, he’s got a lot of runway ahead of him in terms of his potential and his career and the onus is on us to do what’s right for any player that is injured that is that young.…
Arcobello and Bibeau were sent down by the Leafs after Froese and Reimer returned from injury last week, Sparks is returning from a lower body injury suffered against San Jose on December 17 and Kapanen is back from the 2016 World Junior after scoring the winning goal for Finland against Russia.
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