GDT: 2017 NHL Free Agent Frenzy | July 1st, 2017 | 12:00 PM EST (18:00 CET)

[Bolt32]

Also it kind of ignores most of the issues many had with Stamkos' expected contract before it was signed. All of the buzz was 10.5+ a year (based off of Toews/Kane contracts). Yzerman clearly wasn't going to pay that, and in fact he didn't even get close to it. Many reports had the first few offers Yzerman sent his way in the 6 year, 8 million range.

I think Yzerman was (understandably) concerned about Stamkos' play, but also understood that replacing 45 goals is not easy. So he upped the offer to 8 years, the contract is structured in a way that will let Stamkos fully take advantage of the tax rate (by being bonus heavy), but still doesn't overpay him.

Re: Hedman - I think Hedman wanted to stay here, and Yzerman didn't want to dick around with him. Yzerman let Stamkos go until the day before FA before finally signing him - he re-signed Hedman on the first day he was eligible.

Also look into this fact. Stamkos when he gets hurt, hes gone for the whole season. Hedman gets injured (he does like once a season.) He's out for like an average of ten games (Big whoop.). When it came to resign Hedman, Yzerman threw a respectable offer out there and Hedman signed it. He could of gotten more out of us, probably easily. Just it was solid money, and he enjoys playing here so he didn't bat an eye lash. Hedman is a top Five defenseman in the league, you don't toss massive low ball offers to start the negotiation off. We did with Stamkos because as mentioned before, who know's if he is going to play this season. Five games in and we could be right back to square one. The offer was more or less to appease the fans, I don't think Yzerman even thought he would sign it.

 

[Hoek]

Still think it's a bit weird to hold freak incidences against Stamkos like it's his fault. If only he had trained harder and built himself up sturdier he wouldn't have broken his leg against a goal post, gotten a blood clot, or gotten his knee rammed into from behind. Shame on you Stammer!

Everything else about his style, sure.

 

[dbieon12]

Our team got older and slower this offseason. Have to wait and see if the team is any better.

 

[Bolt32]

Still think it's a bit weird to hold freak incidences against Stamkos like it's his fault. If only he had trained harder and built himself up sturdier he wouldn't have broken his leg against a goal post, gotten a blood clot, or gotten his knee rammed into from behind. Shame on you Stammer!

Everything else about his style, sure.

I kind of am. I mean I get it, I'm not blaming him. Its not like he's deliberately trying to injure himself. Freak accidents or no, 3 years dealing with Injuries like this in a relatively short time period should give you pause.

 

[DFC]

Still think it's a bit weird to hold freak incidences against Stamkos like it's his fault. If only he had trained harder and built himself up sturdier he wouldn't have broken his leg against a goal post, gotten a blood clot, or gotten his knee rammed into from behind. Shame on you Stammer!

Everything else about his style, sure.

It's not really holding it against him. It's just that, for whatever reason, he can't seem to get through a full season without something crazy happening.

It's sort of like, after a while Leafs fans just had to realize there'd come a point in the season when Joffrey Lupul would slip in the shower and be out of commission for a year or two. Some guys just have weird things happen to them.

Maybe Stamkos spends the rest of his career healthy. But it's not crazy to be prepared for another freak injury.

 

[Felonious Python]

NJ was asking a very high price to trade Kovalchuk, which no one wanted to deal with.

He'll be free next offseason.

 

[Stammertime91]

NJ was asking a very high price to trade Kovalchuk, which no one wanted to deal with.

He'll be free next offseason.

Well I guess that's a slap back towards Kovalchuk. One less year he can win a cup in his career. Can't really blame Devils management for making the asking price too high.

 

[These Are The Days]

I guess we will have to wait. Oy vey

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

Well I guess that's a slap back towards Kovalchuk. One less year he can win a cup in his career. Can't really blame Devils management for making the asking price too high.

How long do the Devils hold his rights for?

EDIT: So they lose his rights next offseason, and thus lose an asset for nothing. Even if the offers sucked, they should have moved him.

 

[Rschmitz]

Also it kind of ignores most of the issues many had with Stamkos' expected contract before it was signed. All of the buzz was 10.5+ a year (based off of Toews/Kane contracts). Yzerman clearly wasn't going to pay that, and in fact he didn't even get close to it. Many reports had the first few offers Yzerman sent his way in the 6 year, 8 million range.

I think Yzerman was (understandably) concerned about Stamkos' play, but also understood that replacing 45 goals is not easy. So he upped the offer to 8 years, the contract is structured in a way that will let Stamkos fully take advantage of the tax rate (by being bonus heavy), but still doesn't overpay him.

Re: Hedman - I think Hedman wanted to stay here, and Yzerman didn't want to dick around with him. Yzerman let Stamkos go until the day before FA before finally signing him - he re-signed Hedman on the first day he was eligible.

I've never heard of the 6 year 8 million dollar offer before.

 

[The Macho King]

I've never heard of the 6 year 8 million dollar offer before.

There were a few leaks that suggested yzerman was only offering 5 or 6 years. Want to say it was in February that year.

 

[Sky04]

I've never heard of the 6 year 8 million dollar offer before.

Really? The main board exploded on how Yzerman was lowballing him, he should, being treated unfairly, bad gm etc etc etc...

The leak was $8.5m in Janurary... Yzerman didn't budge on his price for half a year.. clearly he didn't value Stamkos as "highly" as others did, news reports had that as a significant lowball.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...ghtning-steve-yzerman-drouin-8-5-million-ufa/

http://www.hockeyinsiders.net/2016/01/26/lightning-extend-embarrassing-contract-offer-to-st/

^ this ones the best

That may seem like a lot of money, but when considering that an AAV of $8.5 million would make Stamkos just the 13th-highest paid player in the NHL, and when it’s a player of Stamkos’ talents who has yet to cash in on his big payday, that offer simply isn’t good enough for the Lightning and GM Steve Yzerman.

But just how off-base is the offer? Depending on who you listen to, it’s either all in the spirit of negotiations, or it’s a slap in the face that could be the only thing Stamkos needs to leave Tampa Bay.

“I really find it hard to believe that [GM Steve] Yzerman would make that offer without a little bit of a guilty feeling or a smirk on his face, because it’s not even in the ballpark,†Sportsnet analyst Glenn Healy told Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Monday.

"If that…is the offer? Embarrassing. And I would not call them back, and I would not even think of signing a contract to have me play for that amount."

The Lightning and Yzerman have dealt with the reality they could risk seeing Stamkos walk via free agency this summer, but they don’t seem to be all that interested in re-signing the forward regardless. For a talent like Stamkos and for his popularity in Tampa Bay, he deserves to be paid as a franchise player along the likes of a Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Alex Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby. With all four of those players, and a handful of others, making over $10 million per year, the offering of $8.5 million from the Lightning isn’t anywhere near the ballpark.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

There were a few leaks that suggested yzerman was only offering 5 or 6 years. Want to say it was in February that year.

per reports after the fact is yzerman NEVER budged or changed offer I get the leaks I dont feel they were true

yzerman offered what he offered and stuck to it and stamkos came home

yzerman didnt expect him back

 

[Rschmitz]

Really? The main board exploded on how Yzerman was lowballing him, he should, being treated unfairly, bad gm etc etc etc...

The leak was $8.5m in Janurary... Yzerman didn't budge on his price for half a year.. clearly he didn't value Stamkos as "highly" as others did, news reports had that as a significant lowball.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...ghtning-steve-yzerman-drouin-8-5-million-ufa/

http://www.hockeyinsiders.net/2016/01/26/lightning-extend-embarrassing-contract-offer-to-st/

^ this ones the best

That's what I thought/remember. From reliable sources, Yzerman submitted an offer and never budged, and it was the contract Stamkos eventually would sign.

Not offering a max contract would indeed be insulting, but I've never read or heard of such a thing before Macho mentioned it in the thread. I don't frequent places like hockeybuzz though.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Our team got older and slower this offseason. Have to wait and see if the team is any better.

As previously posted:

Out:
Drouin
Garrison

In:
Kunitz
Girardi
Sergachev
Stamkos (off IR)
Callahan (off IR)


I think it's a wash on D at best. Garrison was bad, Girardi could be better or worse we'll see. Sergachev could be an upgrade, same for Dotchin or Koekkoek.
In a vacuum Kunitz over Drouin seems like a downgrade but we're planning with 100% Stamkos now which is the biggest off-season boost there is, really. It all depends on him staying healthy. Even 2014 Stamkos should be an overall upgrade to our offense. Both Kunitz and Callahan should provide some much needed secondary scoring, Point and Gourde are expected to have bigger roles next season, Namestnikov is in "do or die" territory.

Again, Stamkos is the biggest factor here. Anything else were cap friendlier but mostly lateral moves (Girardi, Kunitz). They're banking on the young guys to take the next step while providing more veteran presence to guide them (Cally, Kunitz, Girardi).

Most of our potential upgrades are from within. If it doesn't pan out we have enough cap space to adjust via trade or FA if needed.

 

[DougGilmour93]

Leaf fan coming in peace..

Would Stralman be available for a package of the following assets...

JVR (with or without extension)
Bozak
Fehr
Rychel
Leivo
Bracco
Carrick
Marchenko
Marincin
2nd rounder in 2018

 

[MattM92]

Leaf fan coming in peace..

Would Stralman be available for a package of the following assets...

JVR (with or without extension)
Bozak
Fehr
Rychel
Leivo
Bracco
Carrick
Marchenko
Marincin
2nd rounder in 2018

No. Losing him would break our defense.

 

[DougGilmour93]

No. Losing him would break our defense.

Understood.
I didn't know if Slater or Jake or newly signed McBain could use more ice time.

 

[MattM92]

Understood.
I didn't know if Slater or Jake or newly signed McBain could use more ice time.

McBain is going to be replacing Taormina's role in Syracuse, so he won't have much of a role in Tampa. Slater plays the left side which has a hole for him at the moment. And we do have a big of a jam at RD but Stralman is our #2 with no other righty close to his level. Unfortunately we are in a position where losing either Hedman or Stralman means we have a bottom 10 defense.

 

[DougGilmour93]

So JVR + Marincin/Carrick + 2nd wouldn't enticing enough?

 

[CupsOverCash]

So JVR + Marincin/Carrick + 2nd wouldn't enticing enough?

Nope. TB needs Stralman to get back to form. If he does our D gets a big boost. Because then that's two pairings we can give monster minutes to. Well..more than we need to give Girardi and Sustr.

 

[TeslaCoilFan]

So JVR + Marincin/Carrick + 2nd wouldn't enticing enough?

Nope. Like Matt said, Stråls is still our #2D and best RHD, even with a down year due to injury. Girardi, Dotchin and Sustr aren't even close to being able to replace the quality or size of his minutes. Heck, he made Garrison look half way decent for the last part of the year!

Nope. TB needs Stralman to get back to form. If he does our D gets a big boost. Because then that's two pairings we can give monster minutes to. Well..more than we need to give Girardi and Sustr.

Fortunately he was getting back to normal form during that final big push. Something like 7 points in the last 10 games or so, even when being paired with a revolving roster of partners when Garrison went down. Then ended up being totally dominant on Team Sweden's top defense pair with Heddy in the World Championships.

Hedman said in an interview in Vegas for the awards that he and Stråls had talked after Worlds about how they wanted to NOT go to the World Championships next season, but be competing with the rest of their team for a different championship.

There's gonna be a lot of hungry Bolts next season.

It's going to be verrrrrrry interesting to see how Girardi slots into the pairs. If he really does end up being in the top 4, that would imply the second pairing which would put Strålman back with Hedman because there's no fricking way they'd put him down on the third pairing. That would leave Girardi to be paired with either Sergachev or Koekkoek and Coburn with either Dotchin or Sustr? Just hope they keep Girardi away from top pairing with Heddy.

I am liking the Kunitz acquisition more and more. It's short term, not a bad $ and will bring some edge to our bottom 6.

 

[Rschmitz]

So JVR + Marincin/Carrick + 2nd wouldn't enticing enough?

If as a rental and as a seller maybe. With a sweetheart contract with 2 years left, not close. If we were selling, I'd expect a 1st+A type prospect

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

So JVR + Marincin/Carrick + 2nd wouldn't enticing enough?

would take more but stralman is the guy we would all pretty much like to re up a few more years probably so will take a massive overpay imho

 

[More 2004]

If as a rental and as a seller maybe. With a sweetheart contract with 2 years left, not close. If we were selling, I'd expect a 1st+A type prospect

Exactly, his production for the money is just so good. It would take an over payment to pry him from here. Like others said, if he leaves our D is garbage.