Tampa Bay legend Steven Stamkos still without a contract

It’s a bit surprising that Tampa Bay Lightning legend Steven Stamkos hasn’t signed a new contract with his team yet. While the club hasn’t yet recovered from an early playoff loss to the Florida Panthers, it has to look ahead again. Both sides have yet to negotiate a new contract.

Stamkos has long been a club legend

Club legends like Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier have already played for Tampa. Nikita Kucherov has also left an indelible mark on the franchise. The captain Steven Stamkos has long been a legend of the club and it is therefore a bit of a mystery that the club has not already secured the services of this outstanding player for the next seasons.

Stamkos can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The 34-year-old forward signed an eight-year, $68 million contract on June 29, 2016. There are already leaked reports that negotiations for a new contract began after Game 5 against Florida, which Tampa Bay lost by a high score of 1-6, resulting in an early elimination in the first round of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

He has spent his entire career with Tampa Bay

Stamkos has played 16 seasons in the NHL so far, all with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Since March 6, 2014, he has been the captain of the team that celebrated winning two Stanley Cups in 2021 and 2022. In the regular season, he appeared in 1,137 games, scoring 555 goals and adding 582 assists.

In 2010 and 2012, he reigned as the all-time leading scorer and received the Maurice Richard Trophy for scoring 51 and 60 goals, respectively. He was already frustrated last season that his contract had not yet been extended, to which he responded in kind. This season, for the first time in his career, the goal scorer scored 4 goals in a single game and finished the regular season with 81 points in 79 games played. For the seventh time in his career, he broke the 40-goal mark in a season.

” I had a brief conversation with Julien BriseBois, who reached out to my agent. That’s all. But I hope there will be some discussion, you have to start somewhere, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Meanwhile, speculation has already begun to circulate on the internet as to where Stamkos could continue his career if he does not extend his contract with his current club. Destinations such as Detroit, Toronto, Nashville and Florida have been mentioned.

However, if he reaches a deal, it will definitely not be a long-term contract and he will not be able to count on a $8.5 million per season salary. Rather, one can assume that they will agree to a maximum 3-year contract somewhere around 5 million. If the player agrees to it, of course.

Source: NHL, Tampa Bay