[Lebrun] We'll see where it ends up officially, but word is Steven Stamkos' deal with the Predators should end up around four years and $8 million AAV per year

He don’t want that state tax, didn’t have it here in FL either.

And another silver lining is being out west where we won't play against him that often and playing for one of my least hated teams like Nashville doesn't sting nearly as bad.

Still he will forever be a Bolt to me. This is probably my favorite hockey moment of all time: Steven Stamkos Scores 1st Goal On 1st Shot In 1st Game Back From Injury (youtube.com)

If I did my math right, this puts Stamkos at 3rd highest career earnings behind Sid and Ovi

Yeah, man, this is the best move. We're gonna see a lot of "JBB done him dirty" but we just can't match that.

I'm curious if we'll ever find out what the offer from jbb was.  

Honestly the only losers from this deal are my emotions and the Canes.  He can definitely provide leadership, but I really don't think that's enough to justify the price they're paying for him. 

As much as it hurts, I do think the right call was made.

Yeah, I’m happy for him for getting the bag. Matching this or even coming close would’ve fucked us so hard. Sucks that he’s leaving, but he’ll forever be a Bolt and 91 is going in the rafters immediately after he hangs up his skates.

JBB hate is insane. His job is to make the team be as good as possible. Stamkos for even $5m would’ve been brutal for us with the amount of roster spots we need to fill, $8m is quite a lot at his age with his lack of production 5v5.

I mean...that's only 4.5m AAV if we do 7 years. That seems...doable with the cap space we have with some wizardry from JBB.

That said, can't blame Stammer to grab a bag and play for a few less years.

Still would only be our 2nd worst Preds trade

There's one of those fast-talk retail register scams going on between Nashville and Tampa "Okay it's $8.57, so here's $20, so give me back $10, but then take this and change it because I need bus fare, okay but now I need the rest of my change form the $20 I gave you, that's $12.53, okay now hold this for me because I want some ones, and then get me two lotto scratchers so you can just give me $7.47 back, okay then can I get quarters..."

I'm just not sure who's the one doing the scamming.

This is why I still can't believe DET got Kane for $4m.

Premier goal scorers are valuable.

lol.

They have loads of cap space, all their key guys are signed, they just signed Saros, why would they balk at an extra year than what seems “reasonable” to fans?

This is great for Nashville. He will help their power play tremendously and should be decent at even strength for a couple more years.

Yeah I would have liked 6.5 or something. 8 isn't a huge jump over that but it's taking him to 38

To his credit, though, he's played essentially the entire seasons the last three years, he might slow down but he's seems solid to play still, two 40-goal seasons in the last three seasons

I think it’s pretty fair tbh. He’s still a very very good player, has captain experience, cup winning experience, and seems like a great teammate. 40 goals last year ain’t bad.

Why not though? Hes still great.

Idk why anyone thought it would be anything different. No clue why Det fans were so hot and heavy for him, 34 and can't do shit outside of PP anymore

It felt like Nashville or bust. Easy enough for his family to stay home in Tampa and he’s not very far away during the season

We will love him and hold him and call him George

I live in Nashville now, it will be nice seeing him play even though it will be in a different uniform

He put up 80 points last year, there’s no such thing as “an extra $5m”

Didn't Lebrun come out and say that was a complete guess on his part?

Eggman don’t need no neck

Very fun of them. I love chaos

Is steal a neck code for trading for Engvall?

That’s what I’m saying.. maybe he ages like wine but he could easily age like milk

Amalie will be in tears for sure. That game will run long due to the standing ovation lasting too long.

I can’t blame either side, as painful as it is

Please don't, we all have decades of disappointed ahead of us.

just rewatch some highlights from the back to back you'll be fine.

Not trying to argue, this is a genuine question, but he's stayed healthy for a full season the past 3 seasons and had 40+ goals twice in those 2 seasons and 34g the other season. So what is it about him thats not living up to that price tag?

Yeah I really feel for you guys on an emotional and sentimental level, but in terms of pro scouting this feels like a Pierre Dorion level of negligence

Yah I’m all in for it. These long contracts are not going to matter because we have a 10 year rebuild starting in 3-5 years.

"I want to retire with Tampa" 

"How about you come to Nashville for 15 million dollars" 

"Ok ill start packing"

Yup. This makes me feel a lot better about the whole situation. The implication is that we were being stingy. The reality may be more complicated, but he got paid, and we were't going to be able to do that.

Stamkos is my favorite player ever. And I'm not even sad about how this turned out at this point.

A la killorn style

He released a tweet 15 minutes after free agency began saying thank you to Tampa. He’s known for some time now that he wasn’t staying in Tampa.

Yeah my thoughts exactly. Honestly you could kinda tell getting paid was actually his motive all along as he just didn't seem all that sincere about caring more about staying than getting paid.

Maybe he needs the money?

Kind of what he's always done when negotiating with them.

if the team wasn't in a position to contend I'm sure they'd give him that deal.

As it stands he might still retire with the lightning. 4 years is a long time but if Stamkos is still kicking at 39 in the NHL I could see him coming back to Tampa for like 1.5M and just being a 4th line guy + powerplay for the final season.

Or could see Nashville trading him in year 4 back to Tampa for his final retirement tour. Something like that.

Tell everybody else, because that's not the narrative going around.

80 points, 40 goals, over point per game in over 1000 matches. Not a single 5 mill guy produce those numbers. Yes he is getting older, but come on.

You underestimate how desperate we are for a good PP

I looked at his stats and the offensive output is still pretty good no? What's the story behind that -21?

I don't buy the $3m/yr that was being reported. I feel like he was offered 4.5-5 and still turned it down, which I don't blame him but he's not worth $8m, even $5m is stretching it for a guy that is much better in PP than 5v5.