Steven Stamkos ‘Disappointed’ By Lack Of Extension Talk With Lightning
Are we potentially watching the final season of Steven Stamkos in a Tampa Bay Lightning sweater? It sure is starting to feel like Stamkos could be playing elsewhere after the 2023-24 NHL Season.
Training camp around the league has basically kicked off. Stamkos spoke to the media about his contract and the look in his eyes tells a lot of the story. Stamkos states that he really wanted a deal done before camp and the Lightning haven’t engaged with him on a deal. There’s been basically zero talks about getting a deal done.
“To be honest, I’ve been disappointed in the lack of talk in that regard,” Stamkos said Wednesday on the first day of Lightning training camp. “It was something that I expressed at the end of last year that I wanted to get something done before training camp started. There haven’t been any conversations.”
“I stated at the end of last year too I would love to extend and play here and finish out my career here, but that’s out of my hands,” Stamkos said. “I can’t write the contract myself.”
Stamkos, 33, is set to enter his 16th NHL season with Tampa Bay. The Lightning captain is Tampa Bay’s all-time leader in regular-season goals (515), power-play goals (195), game-winning goals (79) and points (1,056). The only thing Stamkos doesn’t lead in is that he’s second in assists (541) behind Martin St. Louis (588) and second in games (1,003) behind Vincent Lecavalier (1,037). Stamkos has also lifted two Stanley Cups with the organization.
It’s not like Tampa Bay hasn’t been busy this Summer either. They clearly prioritized getting a contract extension done with Brandon Hagel. So why hasn’t one gotten done with Stamkos? Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois had this to say regarding Stamkos.
Stamkos, the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, is in the final year of an eight-year, $68 million contract. It doesn’t sound like Stamkos wants to haggle over every dollar so it’s hard to take the GM’s comments seriously here. The truth of the matter is, maybe Tampa doesn’t want to commit mega dollars to a player who’s been hurt in the past and is aging. Tampa lost in the first round this past year and a rebuild may be around the corner. If things go south for Tampa this year, maybe Stamkos is playing for someone else next year. How can you rule it out based on what’s happening here?
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