I laughed at dreger's column today, saying the chance is slim. The reason is; our chance of getting babcock was just as slim. Bobby Mac, had even said 2 days prior to us signing him there was no chance of us getting him. The same will be true for Stamkos.
First will he be traded? If so then it would probably have to include this years first pick, which at this stage of the rebuild I dont think it would be worth it. Though we are huge sellers so may be a chance we include some extra players that in the past we wouldnt have budged on.
If he goes UFA (i doubt this because if stevie Y gets nothing for him his job more than likely would be done for) the question would be; does he want the lime light? and is he ok with the taxation on his pay vs going to a team in the states.
Either way the ball is in Stammer's court. The media interviews to me mean zilch. What is he supposed to say? Yes I liked the leafs tweets (for example). He is being professional, and saying what he should be saying (unlike drouin). If you recall even Ryan Kesler said all the right things in Vancouver, when asked if there was an issue with him and the organization. Same with Bobby Lu.
My guess is this; with Tampa in the hunt for the playoffs, there is no way he goes at deadline day, unless the payment is stupid high. It would make no sense for him to go on d day with Tampa's current position in the standings. So that leaves the draft. That makes the most sense, the price will still be high BUT if I am an NHL GM, I would consider this; Yzerman either gets nothing and he goes UFA or he comes down a bit and we get him. So therefore any GM that would even try to get him before the draft (unless Tampa completely falls off the earth in the standings) would wait.
If we dont get him, I'm not really worried either. People have to realise it may indeed cost us this years first which is looking like a for sure top 5 pick; matthews, laine, puljaarvi, tkchachuk, chychurn,
So do we part with much younger high end talent? For a guy who will be just past his peak? I would say no. To me this would go against what Shanny, Lou, and Babs have been preaching. Stay the course and no quick fixes. Now if it's our 2017 first that makes more sense as we have no clue how high that pick would be..could it be higher than this years? YES but could it be outside the top ten? YES...think about who we have coming, Nylander, Marner, Zaitsev (maybe) Brown, Percy, Sosh...the tale of the tape is still a bit early however. With a ton of young talent coming up..who will be the vets (Komarov, JVR, Reilly) if we can get some balance next year with the young guns, and vets maybe we do finish outside the top 10 in the draft..or next year could be worse, considering our goalie situation is still up in the air.
Anyway the next two weeks will be interesting, and will give us more direction. Last year I believe it was 2weeks to 1.5 weeks from deadline day, trades were lighting up twitter, and d day, not much till the last couple hours. I expect the same. In the after math we may find out more clearly about our goaltending, Reimer or Bernier out..just how many one year guys we let go and who and for what. Either way its an exciting time to be a leaf fan.