Last week when Jon Cooper was given his extension in Tampa Bay many suspected that this could have implications on Steven Stamkos moving forward. Currently the Lightning are saying that both situations are completely separate, but when you are determining where you are going to play the rest of your career every factor has to be weighed in.
Another report came out last week stating that Steven Stamkos' parents had relocated to Tampa Bay.... Perhaps this is to be closer to Stamkos in the future, or perhaps just like Jerry Seinfeld once said, "My parents moved to Florida, they're 70 years old and it's the law."
My point here is that reading the tea leaves in the Stamkos negotiations is probably not wise. While every little factor does matter, at the end of the day this has to be about Steven himself and his happiness on and off the ice. We know Steven Stamkos loves living in the Tampa area and playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning. There have been questions about whether or not he likes to play wing, like he has the last several games, or if he wants a bigger role than Jon Cooper sometimes gives him. I also don't know how much of it is I believe, is because Stamkos is the ultimate team player, and will do whatever his coach thinks will help. While some players might say that kind of thing because it's what you're supposed to say, talking to Stamkos I really believe he is 100% about his team.
Whether Steven Stamkos returns to Tampa probably has more to do with the team itself and the Cap than it does with Stamkos. The Tampa Bay Lightning aren't a team that can just make one of their players the highest-paid forwards in the NHL without hedging as long as they can. In my opinion that's what's going on right now. They are hedging to see where Stamkos fits in their depth chart and if it's possible to consider life without him.
So let's go down that road for a second. What if the Tampa Bay Lightning decide that one $10 million forward, even if that is a top 10 forward, doesn't work in the salary structure of this team? Although this is a new ownership, it is worth mentioning the names of LeCavalier, Richards, and St. Louis....all of whom signed huge contracts and all of whom the team had to deal with in a negative way at the end...
Those players all signed contracts after the team won the Stanley Cup, and I have heard more than a few people who say had the Lightning won the Stanley Cup last year Stamkos would've been signed by now. You have to admit it's possible that he would have been.
Hedging also has its drawbacks. Many of the players who made Stamkos look a little less indispensable last season and in the playoffs have under performed. If management delays mores, I should say if ownership delays, will they really have the answers... Or does it all just get more murky?
As for the other question, the question more of you probably want an answer to: "If not Tampa, where?" That gets very fascinating very quickly. People I know who know Steven Stamkos better than I do say they could see him more in a smaller market; that he really has enjoyed some of the freedoms playing hockey in Tampa allows him, but you have to ask the big question, "can a small-market team pay him?"
The answer is probably yes. Signing Steven Stamkos is more than signing a top 10 forward. Smaller market teams need to sell tickets and jerseys. They need identity in the marketplace. All of this Stamkos brings to you in spades. All of this would be lacking were he to leave Tampa.
We will discuss all this and more on today's podcast at 1pm