It all started with the click of a mouse.
A seemingly harmless action on Twitter from Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos has turned into one of the stories of the day.
Stamkoooooos RT @mc79hockey: Oh, I like this. This is pretty smooth. pic.twitter.com/XZPzzHlaWj
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) July 12, 2014It’s not like Lightning fans haven’t been down this road before. When Stamkos was a restricted free agent just a few years ago, the hockey world was dominated with talk that he was holding out in an attempt to join the Leafs. “His heart is in Toronto,… they’d say. “He doesn’t want to wither away in Florida,… they’d remark. Stamkos, of course, signed a five-year contract with the Bolts and put that fruitless speculation to bed.
This time it might be different. As noted above, Stamkos will be an unrestricted free agent in 2016. In addition, he has established himself as one of the top five players in hockey since signing that previous deal. Any leverage the Lightning had in the last negotiation is gone. Stamkos’ next contract will be signed on his terms.
It's worth asking: Is there any legitimate chance of Stamkos leaving Tampa Bay for Toronto?
It’s tough to say. The allure of playing at home in front of friends and family might be strong. The potential for stupidly rich endorsement deals in hockey’s biggest market is obviously attractive. The thought of winning a championship and being remembered as the guy who quenched Toronto’s thirst for victory is definitely appealing. Is all that enough to make him leave Tampa? Without asking him, it’s impossible to know.
What we do know is that Stamkos is part of something special with the Lightning. He’s captain of one of the NHL’s top franchises. The future in Tampa is bright, with high quality prospects laden throughout the organization’s pipeline. It’s impossible to argue that this Lightning team isn’t close to competing for the Stanley Cup and much closer than the Maple Leafs. This is a question of priorities and wants. Each individual would respond differently.
Reaction to this story has been mixed. Some Lightning fans are laughing off the possibility of him leaving. Don’t ask me why. I’m not laughing. There’s a very compelling argument for why he should want to join the Maple Leafs, as articulated in Proteau’s The Hockey News piece.
Conversely, others have emphatically stated that “Yzerman won’t let him leave,… or something to that effect. The problem there is that Yzerman doesn’t have much choice. If Stamkos wants to leave Tampa for Toronto, he’ll leave Tampa for Toronto. Money and term alone won’t be enough to get this deal done.
The bottom line here is that there are plenty of great reasons for Stamkos to stay in Tampa. Being part of a franchise that’s inching closer and closer to hockey’s Holy Grail is probably number one. Still, there are some very legitimate reasons for why he might want to join the Leafs too. The point is that both possibilities exist.
FWIW, after that Stamkos piece went up, a good source said he really thinks Stamkos could go to Leafs in '16 & said it'd take a max contract
— Adam Proteau (@Proteautype) July 12, 2014As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.