NHL Free Agents 2024: Early look at the top five players
By Jim Lynch
The Lightning might have to move on from their longtime captain Steven Stamkos.
The Lightning did some work this summer. They made a few trades like sending Patrick Maroon to Minnesota, Corey Perry to Chicago and Ross Colton to Colorado, and they worked on their future cap situation extending Brandon Hagel and Darren Raddysh. One player the Lightning have not talked about extending through is Steven Stamkos.
Steven Stamkos has shared his frustration about entering the 2023-24 season without a contract in place for the future, yet here we are. Stamkos, who played in his 1000th NHL game this past season and is about to start his 16th season with the Lightning, will have to wait for the season to play out to get a new deal.
It makes sense Stamkos wants to remain a Lightning for life. He has captained two teams to the Stanley Cup and has been arguably the best player ever to wear a Lightning jersey. But, the NHL is a business, and we have seen star players not get brought back at the end of their contracts most recently in Chicago with Toews and Kane. If Stamkos were to hit free agency I think he could bring a lot to a new team.