“To be trustworthy, I have been disenchanted within the lack of speak in that regard,” Stamkos advised reporters. “It was one thing that I had expressed on the finish of the yr, that I needed to get one thing finished earlier than coaching camp began. There have not been any conversations.”
Nevertheless, Stamkos shouldn’t be letting his lack of an extension have an effect on his play. The 33-year-old standout has demonstrated he can nonetheless produce — whether or not for the Lightning or one other staff. (The NHL’s vacation roster freeze runs by way of Dec. 28. The commerce deadline is March 8, 2024.)
Heading into Tuesday night time’s sport towards St. Louis, Stamkos has 31 factors (15 objectives and 16 assists) in 29 video games — together with his twelfth profession hat trick and first profession four-goal sport on Thursday.
“He seems at me after the fourth (aim) and says, ‘First time ever,’ “Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the Lightning’s 7-4 over the Oilers. “[W]e had an excellent little chuckle on the bench.”
Even with Stamkos nonetheless producing for the Lightning, basic supervisor Julien BriseBois stands by his status-quo place on a contract extension, per TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun.
“The reply is not any, it is established order, and I get it. Typically with the brand new yr approaching, you marvel if groups will revisit that sort of state of affairs,” LeBrun mentioned just lately on “Insider Trading.” “Julien BriseBois was very clear earlier than the season. He is on file. They don’t seem to be going to speak contract with their captain till after the season.”
Stamkos and the Lightning made three straight Stanley Cup Remaining appearances, profitable two, earlier than shedding within the first spherical to the Toronto Maple Leafs final season. That has led BriseBois to concentrate on this season’s end result earlier than committing to a contract extension with Stamkos.
The Lightning have 33 factors and sit simply exterior the ultimate wild-card spot within the Japanese Convention.
“Steven and I share a standard aim of bringing the Cup again to Tampa, that is our goal,” BriseBois mentioned on the primary day of camp,” per Kevin O’Donnell of Fox13 in Tampa. “To ensure that us to do this in future years, we will have to spend our cap collars as properly as doable. To ensure that me to do this, I really feel like I would like to collect extra data.”
With the wage cap set to go as much as $87.7 million subsequent season, the Lightning may have extra cap flexibility than they’ve had in current summers.
And so the ready sport will persist for Stamkos, who continues to provide for the Lightning thus fueling commerce hypothesis.