How Lightning GM approached 4th contract talks with Stamkos, Hedman

TAMPA — The Lightning front office has made a practice in recent years of signing the team’s top players to extensions the summer before they reach the final year of their contracts.

But right to the day captain Steven Stamkos left the Lightning after 16 seasons, he was perplexed as to why general manager Julien BriseBois didn’t engage him in extension talks the summer before his walk year, setting the stage for an acrimonious split that ended with Stamkos signing Monday with the Predators.

“Certainly that was the probably the start of it — the start of the writing on the wall,” Stamkos said Monday during his first Nashville availability. “You know, I didn’t quite understand why, but I didn’t ask too many questions and just went about it and played hard and didn’t let that affect me.”

BriseBois provided insight into his strategy Monday, saying a precedent recently had been set — particularly under the flat salary cap — for teams to make star players play out the final year of their third contracts before discussing a fourth.

In keeping their top players together and happy, the Lightning have made a practice of signing them to club-friendly bridge deals in their second contract, then rewarding them with richer long-term deals in their third. Starting the summer before Stamkos entered the final year of his second contract, the Lightning started to try to sign him to an extension. Then-GM Steve Yzerman made him an offer, but the sides couldn’t agree on a deal and Stamkos didn’t sign a third contract until two days before free agency opened.

The Lightning did the same with Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brayden Point, completing extensions on a third contract the summer before the final season of their second deal.

But as Stamkos approached his fourth contract, BriseBois said the approach was different.

“If you look at the last five years, give or take since the cap had kind of gotten flat, players that were either sure first-ballot Hall of Famers like Steven or players who are going to get consideration for the Hall of Fame that were 34 years old or older that were up for their fourth contract, I think only one signed a deal a year early, and that was (Kings forward) Anze Kopitar,” BriseBois said “The only other one that I found that signed before his previous contract had lapsed was (Capitals center) Nicklas Backstrom, who signed in January right before the contract lapse.

“If you look at the others ones — Patrice Bergeron, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Kristopher Letang, Joe Pavelski, Claude Giroux — some of them stayed with their teams and signed extensions, but it was after the contract elapsed. Some like Steven ended up signing somewhere else. So, the exception is Anze Kopitar. ... I think it’s the circumstances which is different. The cap has been flat for a long time, and cash base gets allocated to younger players.”

Tuesday, BriseBois bucked that trend with Hedman, signing him to a four-year extension for his fourth contract a year before his current one expires.

Perhaps some of it is timing.

The cap went up $4.5 million for next season and is projected to jump another $4 million the following year. Hedman, 33, is coming off a strong season. His 63 assists and 76 points were the second-most of his career, and his plus-18 rating last season was an indication he still plays a strong two-way game. Plus, top defensemen are more difficult to replace than scorers, especially ones with size and skating ability.

• • •

Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.

Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on Instagram, X and Facebook.