I'd love to see Stamkos on the team but make no mistake, he is going to get paid.
PAID.
Like, $9-10m a year or even more.
So I'm not really sure it's feasible. Johansen will need a new deal soon. Forsberg will be getting a pretty substantial raise. Frankly I'm not sure any team can really afford to pay a player that much over the next few years and still surround them with talent. The cap hasn't risen the way it was expected to when the Toews and Kane contracts were signed.
Well, if signing Stamkos and creating a core of Johansen, Stamkos, Forsberg it would probably mean we would have to get rid of 2 out of Neal, Smith and Wilson and replace them with ELC types of players. The question would be, what is better, a top 6 consisting of 3 great players 1 good player and 2 rotation players or a top 6 of 2 great players and 4 good players?
Rookie (1m) - Johansen (7m) - Neal (6m)
Forsberg (5m) - Stamkos (10m) - Rookie (1m)
Total: 30m
or
Wilson (4m) - Johansen (7m) - Neal (6m)
Forsberg (5m) - Ribeiro (4m) - Smith (4m)
Total: 30m