The captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning is disappointed over the lack of contract talks with the team.
During the team’s season opening media availability, Steven Stamkos recently talked with the media about his looming contract status and didn’t mince words about his frustrations with it so far.
“Yeah, to be honest I’ve been disappointed in the lack of talking in that regard,” said the long-time Lightning captain. “It was something I expressed at the end of last year that I wanted to get something done before training camp started. There haven’t been any conversations…I’m ready whenever, I guess that was something I didn’t see coming and it is what it is.”
Stamkos has made it clear that he wants to re-sign long-term with the Lightning and it’s surprising that the team didn’t approach him for a new contract as soon as possible. He has one year remaining on the eight-year, $68 million contract he signed with Tampa in 2016. In the final year of his contract, the AAV will be $8.5 million and he will earn $6.5 million in real dollars, $5.5 million of that in a signing bonus.
The former 60-goal scorer had hoped that they wouldn’t repeat the drama from his last contact negotiation but at this point anything can happen.
Stamkos had a strong 2022-23 season, appearing in 81 games and scoring 37 goals and 84 points. He is just one year removed from his triumphant 2021-22 season when he put up a career-high 106 points. The best option is probably for both teams to figure out a good number that works for both sides on a long-term deal. However, the captain is already 33 years old and the team might not want to be paying him top dollar until he’s 41 or 42. Taking into account his injury history, the Lightning could look for a shorter-term deal similar to the ones signed by Claude Giroux and Joe Pavelski in recent years.
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