Having overcome a number of significant adversity throughout his career, the longstanding Captain is coming off two of his best seasons to date. He's one of six pending unrestricted free agents heading into the 2023-24 season.
Steven Stamkos has long been the face of the Lightning franchise. As he enters his 16th season, he is in the final year of an eight-year, $68 million contract he signed back in 2016. He has made it clear he wants to retire with the Lightning organization but it appears he’ll have to wait to finalize the deal.
Stamkos is one of six pending unrestricted free agents heading into the season. His frustration stems from the lack of communication throughout the process.
With winning very much ingrained in their culture, and the salary cap being an ongoing challenge for the Lightning, a lot is still yet to be determined. Last season wasn’t the norm for Tampa Bay and they certainly don’t want things to move in that direction. It is possible GM Julien BriseBois is waiting to see how things pan out regarding the new players, specifically their young defensemen before finalizing a deal with Stamkos.
“I’m ready whenever. I guess that was something that I didn’t see coming but it is what it is.”
GM Julien BriseBois’ spoke with the media about an hour later.
His response: Stamkos will have to wait.
“Steven and I share the common goal of bringing the Cup back to Tampa,” BriseBois said. “In order for me to do that, I need to gather more information. I need to see how this season plays out before I can make those decisions.”
“It’s not just about Steven playing out his career in Tampa. It’s about Steven staying in Tampa and the Lightning remaining a legitimate Stanley Cup contender year in and year out for the remainder of his tenure as a player on the club.”
With Stamkos’ $8.5 million coming off the books at the end of this season, the Lightning will have a $75 million cap hit, which leaves them with about $12.4 million to spend.
Having overcome a number of significant injuries and adversity throughout his career, the longstanding Captain is coming off two of his best seasons to date. He’s missed just two regular-season games the past two seasons, and one was for the birth of his second son.
Stamkos had 84 points last season (34 goals, 50 assists) and four points (two goals, two assists) in six playoff games.
He’s the Lightning’s all-time leader in regular-season goals (515), power-play goals (195), game-winning goals (79) and points (1,056), and is second in assists (541), behind Martin St. Louis (588), and second in games (1,003), behind Vincent Lecavalier (1,037). Stamkos is third in Lightning history in Stanley Cup Playoff goals (45), assists (50) and points (95), and won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2020 and 2021.
“He’s coming off arguably his best two-years stretch of hockey,” BriseBois said. “He’s in great shape, and he keeps himself in great shape. Next summer when his contract ends, he’s going to be 34 years old, not 44 years old.”
“So, I fully expect him to continue to be a highly productive player, not just for this coming year, but for years to come. I know that for him, it would have been a lot easier for him to have a contract in place. But for me, in the grand scheme of things, I think this is the right course of action at this point.”