It's been a difficult few days for Lightning fans, after 16 years and two Stanley Cup Championships, Steven Stamkos is officially leaving Tampa. The chapter of what was the most accomplished era in Tampa Bay sports is closed.
The difficult part? It wasn't Stamkos' decision to leave. If you would have asked if this was possible a month ago, I would have said it was possible, but unlikely. Looking back now, the writing was always on the wall.
Stamkos is the most successful player in franchise history. He's overwhelmingly the fan favorite, known across the league for being one of the best captains, and the gold-standard when it comes to being the face of a franchise. When you talk about "growing the game" in Tampa, he wrote the book.
In May, following the Lightning's first round playoff exit to the Florida Panther's, GM Julien BriseBois opened exit interviews expressing his desire to sign Stamkos before he became an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
“You all saw how, from the trade deadline on, Stammer elevated his level of play, which was incredible to see. For someone who has already earned his Hall of Fame plaque, has accomplished so much already, and has been accomplishing so much for so long, for him to play arguably the best two months of hockey of his career — it started around the trade deadline, and he carried it all the way through that series against the Panthers — for him to do that, at the time when our team needed it most, was incredible.”
On Friday morning BriseBois said he had discussions with Stamkos’ agent while in Las Vegas for the NHL Draft. He expressed his uncertainty on whether a deal could get done that would allow Stamkos to finish his career in Tampa.
On Saturday morning, he reconvened with Stamkos’ agent Don Meehan after making a trade. BriseBois said the two parties were not able to come to an agreement and Meehan confirmed to BriseBois that Stamkos would be testing out free agency.
“The plan is for Steven to test the free agent market. Our respective positions haven't changed following today's trades,” said BriseBois. “I understand that when you get this close to free agency it can be tempting to see what the market has to offer to you.”
The problem is, the offer was reported to be somewhere around $3 to 3.5 million or so over eight years. The reporting also states that Newport Sports, the agency that represents Stamkos, was looking for something closer to $4.5 to $5 million per year depending on how long the term was. Given his impact over the past 16 years, the offer given by BriseBois was never going to be agreed upon. Stamkos was willing to take a cut, but not to the point of disrespecting everything he has accomplished with the organization.
“What would have worked in Tampa and what works here Nashville are two completely different situations. I think when you're in one place for a really long time, you're always trying to make it work and stay and there's concessions from both sides," Stamkos said in his first media availability with Nashville.
“When I didn't get approached to sign an extension last summer that caught me by surprise and it was something that I expressed at training camp. Certainly that was probably the start of it, the start of the writing on the wall."
When asked at what point Stamkos knew the door was closed on signing an extension in Tampa, he said he continued to be hopeful.
“It probably depends who you ask. If you ask Tampa, maybe the door was closed a little sooner than, you know, if you asked me. When you're going through a situation like that, and I've never been through a situation like that.. You always think that something's going to work out.”
This move was intentional for BriseBois. The Bolts cleared salary cap space Saturday when they traded for Jake Guentzel. They were choosing to let a future Hall of Famer and the face of their franchise walk.
“I know the fans are disappointed. I know Steven is disappointed and I’m disappointed. Like everyone, I wanted Stammer to stay in Tampa and finish his career with the Lightning,” BriseBois said.
“But like for every player, I felt like there were limits that we could allocate in terms of cap space to him.”
BriseBois believes that cap dollars should be allocated to younger players, although Victor Hedman (33) was just offered an $8M extension, and Ryan McDonagh is returning at the age of 34.
During his midseason availability back in February, when asked by media members if Stamkos’ impact and stature in the community and on the team would be factor into the negotiations, BriseBois simply said.. "yes".
Looking back, that was not true. It gave both Lightning fans and Stamkos a false hope for something that was never going to happen.
“I knew both sides were going to try to get something done and do something that was mutually beneficial,” Stamkos said. “It just felt like, you know, I was the one that was making a lot of the concessions.”
So could this all work out for BriseBois? Sure. It could, but at what risk?
"That's the toughest part is trying to hang on to something that maybe isn't trying to hang on to you. But like I said, the memories I've had in Tampa will always trump whatever ill will or feelings I've had throughout this process."
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