Tampa Bay Lightning: How Much Will It Take To Re-Sign Steven Stamkos?

How much will it take for the Tampa Bay Lightning to avoid captain Steven Stamkos debuting in a new jersey when the 2016-17 season kicks off?

There has been one story and one story alone which has continued to bore a hole through the minds of the hundreds of thousands of fans here in the Bolts Nation. The biggest question has remained will the Tampa Bay Lightning be able to come to terms with captain Steven Stamkos before the Free Agency Period opens up on July 1^st?

Now, the question is not whether or not the Tampa Bay Lightning wants to re-sign Steven Stamkos or whether it is worth it for the team to do so, but something more along the lines of whether or not the Lightning organization can even afford to make a reasonable deal happen?

Just how much will it take for the Tampa Bay Lightning to come to a mutually beneficial agreement with Steven Stamkos? The unfortunate fact of the matter is, without making a significant amount of roster moves, the Tampa Bay Lightning may not have enough money to make this kind of deal happen.

Right now, Steven Stamkos brings home a base salary of $5.5 million per year. As you can imagine, Stamkos is going to be looking for a substantial bump in pay in his new contract. There were rumors going around early last year the Tampa Bay Lightning had offered Steven Stamkos an eight-year contract worth around $68 million. This breaks down to around $8.5 million per year.

Given the fact the Tampa Bay Lightning and Steven Stamkos did not come to terms on an extension prior to the 2016 NHL Trade Deadline, it would seem as if this was not a mutually beneficial agreement. Was it the length of the contract? Maybe it was the dollar amount. Right now, the only two people who know for sure what went down are Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman and Steven Stamkos himself.

While no one will outright admit this, the NHLPA surely has their hands all over this one. Steven Stamkos could very well be the benchmark upon which all superstar players contracts are written from here on out. The writing is all over the wall. If they have their way, Steven Stamkos will get paid upside of what Chicago Blackhawks forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are pulling in right now.

For the next two seasons, Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews is bringing home a base salary of $7.8 million per year in addition to a $6 million signing bonus. This brings Toews to around $13.8 million per year. The exact same thing can be said about the Blackhawks captain’s partner-in-crime Patrick Kane. Kane brings home $7.8 million per year for the next two years with a $6 million signing bonus.

Now, the next two years are not the end of the Blackhawks dynamic duo’s contract. The numbers stagger over the course of the next seven seasons, but both deals come out to a total of around $70.2 million each. That is a lot of money from anyone’s standpoint. Unfortunately, with just a little under $1.8 million in cap space, coming up with the numbers needed to pay Steven Stamkos is going to need an act of the hockey gods.

As much as some do not want to hear this, Steven Stamkos has shown more than a little decline over the course of the last couple of seasons. After his spectacular 60-goal season in the 2011-12 season, which would lead the Ontario native to his second Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, he has yet to come anywhere in the general vicinity of these numbers.

After being sidelined on two separate occasions with very serious injuries and/or illnesses, the young sniper almost seems slightly hesitant with the puck. Does this mean his chances of a huge NHL payday have gone by the wayside? Absolutely not. At the same time, his chances of getting the same kind of money as someone like Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane seems highly unlikely.

If the Tampa Bay Lightning and Steven Stamkos are going to come to a mutually beneficial agreement, and Stamkos really wants to stay in Tampa Bay as much as he has said recently, the number on his contract is more than likely going to fall somewhere in the $10 million per year range and somewhere between a six-eight year deal. Given the way long-term contracts have worked out for the Lightning in the past, we would lean more towards the six-year deal.

The Tampa Bay Lightning should be able to put together this amount of money without breaking the bank too much. Unfortunately, it will result in at least one of the players who are set to become Free Agents this season starting the 2016-17 season in a different jersey.

At this point, we can’t imagine which players Yzerman would allow to walk away, given the team’s performance the past couple of seasons. We guess that’s why Yzerman is General Manager and we are not.

Next: Top 5 Draft Picks The Tampa Bay Lightning Should Pursue

The off-season is sure to bring changes to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Some of these changes may be needed and welcome. Some may result in tears. The one thing we have always said, which still rings true today, the logo on the front of the jersey is much more important than the name and number on the back. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how it all plays out over the next couple of months.

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