Earlier this week, Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos took part in a very, very optional skate with his teammates inside the bubble in Edmonton.
No contact. No bag skate. Just shinny with the boys.
Stamkos is not ready to play in the Stanley Cup Finals. Stamkos still looks good as he glides all over the rink. He still has the filthy paws.
Too bad he can't suit up and play.
The Sarnia Sting legend has not played in an NHL game since since February 25 (core muscle surgery), however, he hasn't been finger quotes *ruled out* of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Don't be misled nor led astray. What you are seeing from Stamkos is the long kiss goodbye.
Imagine a Tampa Bay Lightning championship team where captain Steven Stamkos did not play one single shift. It is about to happen.
It is very, very likely that Stamkos will never play another game for the team that drafted him first overall at the 2008 NHL Draft. After 12 seasons in Tampa, Stamkos will be a salary cap casualty once his Lightning teammates defeat the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Finals, which will begin on Saturday night.
Talk about the most 2020 thing ever! Stamkos can be a spectator but he cannot play in the Stanley Cup Finals.
It has to be killing Stamkos that he has been relegated to being the cheerleader and hype man for his teammates. Stamkos is a warrior and he wants to be in the battle with the boys. However, his ailment will not allow him to participate in the most meaningful games of his NHL career.
The Bolts have learned to win without Stamkos, who has scored 422 goals and 410 assists in 803 career regular season games. It sounds cold as ice to say but the truth is that Stamkos is no longer the best player in Tampa. That distinction now belongs to Victor Hedman, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.
In the Return To Play and Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Lightning have been powered offensively by Hedman, Point and Kucherov. Point will win the 2020 Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Point has played his way into the discussion of being seriously considered one of the top five players in today's NHL. He is the number one center and quarterback of his Tampa Bay Lightning squad.
Steven Stamkos is no longer the face of the Tampa Bay Lightning. It all happens so fast in professional sports. One minute, the fresh faced phenom bursts on the scene and the next he is being traded to make room for the Johnny Come Lately.
October 30, 2008. I spoke with Stamkos that night after he had scored his first and second career goals against Ryan Miller and the Buffalo Sabres. Stamkos, who was just 19 years old at the time, led his team to a 5-2 victory over the Sabres. After the game, an elated Stamkos ate LaNova chicken wings in the Tampa room and told me he was relieved to have finally scored his first NHL goal. When I asked him if he had set a personal goal for goals for his rookie season, he told me his personal statistics don't matter to him and that the only goal he is interested in is winning the Stanley Cup.
From the mouths of babes.
In 57 games this season, the 30-year-old Stamkos scored 29 goals and 66 points.
Stamkos is owed $8.5M AAV for the next four seasons. It will be impossible for the Lightning management group to keep the Bolts' Stanley Cup caliber roster intact for next season and beyond while Stamkos is on the roster.
Bolts GM Julien BriseBois is tasked with having to keep his core player group intact depsite the tortilla-flat NHL salary cap of $81.5 million.
Today, BriseBois has 15 players under contract for the 2020-21 season at a $76,166,666 salary expenditure. After the champagne hang over and euphoria subsides, BriseBois will inevitably have to take out his scalpel and commit to the process of performing surgery on his current roster. Stan Bowman of the Chicago Blackhawks had to do it. So too did Dean Lombardi of the LA Kings, Ray Shero and Jim Rutherfird of teh Pittsburgh Penguins. NHL GMs quickly learn that after the lift of the Stanley Cup comes the let down of having to say goodbye to the star players that led your team to Lord Stanley's ticker tape parade.
BriseBois only has $5.3M dollars in his wallet and he has to back up the Brinks truck to re-sign his star RFA center Anthony Cirelli, who scored the Eastern Conference OT game winner against the NY Islanders on Thursday night. Defensive towers of power Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak are also restricted free agents and will be receiving HUGE pay raises. BriseBois must create salary cap slush with which to sign UFA blue liners Zach Bogosian, Kevin Shattenkirk and Luke Schenn.
Life without Stamkos has not been bluer than blue for Jon Cooper and the Lightning. In fact, life has been pretty damn good for the centers of attention Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde and Cedric Paquette.
Once the Stanley Cup is awarded, the Lightning will be forced into the tough decision of having to trade their captain. There are several NHL clubs that are still searching for a second line center. Among the suitors are the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Arizona Coyotes and Winnipeg Jets.
Earlier this week, the Sabres acquired center Eric Staal from Minnesota in exchange for forward Marcus Johansson.
Admittedly, the trade to Buffalo was a shocker for Staal, his wife and three young boys. There is no a guarantee that Staal will be reporting to Buffalo once the training 2020-21 season begins.
On Friday morning, I sat in on Staal's introductory press conference on Zoom.
The 35 year old Stanley Cup champ said the right things. He wants to "shepherd" his young teammates and help to develop them into difference makers. Staal said he was excited about the trade to Buffalo, however, his body language told a different story. I'm not convinced that Staal will be playing for the Sabres in 2020-21. Hell, we don't even know when the next season will begin. I've been told January 2021 or February 2021. Suffice to say, Staal may change his mind about playing for the Sabres. It is his right to do so. He's a family man's family man and that has earned $87 million in his NHL career. Staal has options.He has one year remaining on his current contract at a $3.25M AAV. The Thunder Bay native will turn 36 years old in October and has said that he intends to live in the dream house in Minnesota that he and his wife just completed construction on when they retire. Staal said Friday that his three boys all play hockey in the State of Hockey and that his middle son told him that he is not changing schoools nor moving to Buffalo. I would totally understand if Staal decided to leave the $3.25M on the table and stay home.
Its okay, E. Crack a smile, why don't you?
IF Staal does opt to retire or asks for a trade to another NHL club, Sabres GM Kevyn Adams will have to find himself another second line center. If Staal opts out of the deal and retires, the Sabres will be off the hook for Staal's $3.25 million salary cap hit.
When Staal agrees to report to Buffalo, the Sabres will still need to surround Jack Eichel with more top six forward depth. Steven Stamkos would fit that bill perfectly. Like Staal, Stamkos is a prolific scorer and can also play the wing as well as center.
The Sabres have the necessary trade currency-- talented prospects, premium draft choices, cost-controlled players, right shot defenseen--and the requisite salary cap space to absorb the four remaining years on Stamkos' contract. The Lightining would have to agree to eat a portion of the balance of the Stamkos contract.
Imagine a world where Ralph Kreuger can ice a lineup that boasts of a center battalion of Jack Eichel, Eric Staal, Steven Stamkos, and superb rookie Dylan Cozens, who can ease himself into the NHL while playing a reduced responsibility while playing on the wing.
At what cost Stamkos for the Sabres?
Kevyn Adams would likely have to trade forward Casey Mittlestadt (2017 eighth overall pick) , prospect defenseman Casey Fitzgerald and the 2021 second round draft choice.
There has been a lot of chatter in the past couple of weeks about the Sabres and their alleged self-imposed salary cap of $70 million. Can they afford to add the Stamkos contract to their cap?
Yes, they can.
At present, the Sabres have $34.5 million in salary cap space availaboe for the 2020-21 season.
Kevyn Adams has to re-sign his RFAs Samson Reinhart, Victor Olofsson, Dominik Kahun, Curtis Lazar, Tage Thompson, Brandon Montour, and Linus Ullmark. He can trade the RFA rights of defenseman Lawrence Pilut who has opted to play in Russia. Reinhart and Montour will receive substantial pay raises while the other RFAs can play accept two year bridge deals.
Adams also has decisions to make on his unrestricted free agents Jimmy Vesey, Wayne Simmonds, Zemgus Girgensons, Vlad Sobotka, Johan Larsson, and Mike Frolik. From this group, I re-sign Vesey and Girgensons.
Is Stamkos worth investing in at this point in his spectacular NHL career?
Yes, he is.
Stamkos is a point-a-game producer and his scoring shows no signs of slowing down. Injuries are always a concern with Stamkos, however, the reward outweighs the risk.
Tampa's loss can be Buffalo's gain by adding Stamkos to their top six forward group. Stamkos is versatile and can be deployed as a center and winger. You can never have too many productive, competent, high-quality centers on your roster in the NHL today. When his contract expires at the end of the 2023-2024 season, Stamkos will be 34 years old and will have earned in excess of $126 million in career earnings. At that point he can be re-signed for substantially less money per season or he can choose to call it a career. I think Stamkos is a winner and he is the exact type of leader that the Buffalo Sabres can use more of.
Having a center ice trio of
Eichel-Stamkos-Cozens for the next few seasons would not suck at all.
Buffalo Sabres Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»