The off-season generally bears its name poorly in Tampa, where there are always extremely numerous files to settle between the end of one campaign and the start of another. The next few weeks will be no exception, and the top priority has a name: Steven Stamkos.
In front of local journalists, Wednesday morning, the general manager of the Lightning, Julien BriseBois, left no room for any ambiguity. Before even being asked a single question, he delivered an opening speech lasting almost four minutes, during which he paid tribute to the Florida Panthers, his club’s defeaters in five games, and gave a brief assessment of the 2023-2024 season and, above all, delivered a plea for his captain to “be part of this group” next fall and again after.
Steven Stamkos, 34, played his entire 16-season career in a Lightning uniform. He has just amassed 40 goals and 81 points in 79 games. Even if his production is increasingly concentrated on the power play, he remains at the heart of the offensive success of the team that drafted him in 2008, of which he is the undisputed leader.
PHOTO PATRICE LAROCHE, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois
However, the eight-year contract he signed during the summer of 2016 will expire within a few weeks. The fact that he still has not reached a new agreement has fueled discussions in recent months. We can assume that the noise will only increase between now and 1er July, unless the Ontarian quickly puts his name at the bottom of a contract.
On this day of assessment, Wednesday, Stamkos himself reiterated his wish to stay in Tampa. His coach and teammates admitted they never envisioned a life without him. As we understand it, neither does his CEO.
“We’ve all seen Stammer raise his game,” said BriseBois. It’s incredible to think that someone who already deserves his Hall of Fame plaque, who has accomplished so much, has just played possibly the best two months of hockey of his career. »
Leadership
Along with his exploits on the ice – 30 points in his last 20 games of the season – Stamkos has also established new standards in terms of leadership, continued the manager.
Last summer, he recalled, “for different reasons, many leaders left our team.” He didn’t name them, so let’s do it for him: Alex Killorn, Corey Perry, Pat Maroon and Zach Bogosian, all architects of one or other of the Lightning’s three consecutive appearances in the Stanley Cup final in 2020 to 2022.
In this context, “no one” has “filled this void” as much as Stamkos, BriseBois said.
We often repeat, within the organization, that we strive for excellence with humility. [Stamkos] always has, but never more so than in recent months.
Julien BriseBois, general manager of the Lightning
BriseBois said he briefly discussed the schedule for the coming weeks with Stamkos and his agent to determine when formal discussions could begin. Despite the enthusiasm of both parties, we will understand that management is dealing with financial imperatives which may not agree with the captain’s requests.
Helped by a rising salary cap, the Lightning are not caught by the throat as they were at this time last year. But it’s not abundance either: the specialized site CapFriendly calculates that with 16 players under contract, the CEO has 12.6 million to complete his training for 2024-2025.
This is what he has in mind when he talks about the “puzzle” whose pieces he still has to put together. “Nothing is excluded”, not even the possibility of relieving oneself from an onerous contract to give oneself some room for maneuver. In any case, he still needs to gather “as much information as possible” before presenting an offer to Stamkos.
Is he confident of reaching an agreement in time? “I’m hopeful,” he replied with aplomb.
“Competitive”
If the Stamkos file is so delicate, it is in particular because the Lightning, despite an aging core, have not reached the end of their success. At least not according to Julien BriseBois.
PHOTO KIM KLEMENT NEITZEL, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Mikhail Sergachev
In 2023-2024, his club has amassed 98 points in the standings, at 13e NHL rank, a copy and paste from the previous season. And this, despite the fact that goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy, having back surgery, missed the first two months of the calendar and that Mikhail Sergachev was limited to 34 games. The defenseman, who led his team in ice time the previous season, suffered fractures to his tibia and fibula which required lengthy rehabilitation.
In the circumstances, the view that the DG casts on his troops is not gloomy, on the contrary.
“Internally, we believe that we will remain competitive,” he assures. As long as that is the case, according to him, it remains possible that “the stars align” and that the group in place experiences at least one more long run in the playoffs.
However, gaps will have to be plugged, mainly on the defensive level. The offense and special teams have been among the best in the league. However, in the space of two years, the number of goals allowed has increased considerably, going from 2.78 to 3.07 and to 3.26 from 2021-2022 to 2023-2024.
Spontaneously, we will look at the goalkeepers to explain this phenomenon. Assistants Jonas Johansson and Matt Tomkins, especially, were not very convincing, and Vasilevskiy, despite a positive record of 30-20-2, presented the worst statistics of his career on an individual level. His boss qualified this performance by recalling that he had missed training camp and that by the time he returned to action, at the end of November, the level of play in the league was already high .
The shortcomings were, however, palpable in front of the masked men. Clearly, this team is no longer the defensive powerhouse it was when it won the Stanley Cup twice in a row, in 2020 and 2021. Players like Ryan McDonagh, Yanni Gourde, Ondrej Palat or Alex Killorn were not replaced by equivalent players. At least not yet.
The presence of Sergachev full-time next season will help, predicted Julien BriseBois. But one way or another, “we’re going to have to do a better job of keeping the puck out of our goal, especially at five-on-five,” he summed up.
Optimism therefore remains there, as long as the pieces of the famous puzzle fall into place, but not only that.
The Lightning saw the Panthers play “tremendously” during the series between the two clubs, notably demonstrating a superior ability to “capitalize” on the opportunities presented to them.
To win, a team needs “good players and a little luck,” the CEO philosophized.
There is no shortage of talent and experience when a team has Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos, Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev, Andrei Vasilevskiy… However, they will have to rediscover some of the magic that animated them not so long ago.
Otherwise, especially if Stamkos were to leave, we will witness the slow decline of what momentarily resembled a dynasty.