Panthers are expected to sign legend of the Tampa Bay Lightning
The NHL raised the salary cap to $88 million, but the Lightning will still have a difficult time re-signing captain Steven Stamkos and other unrestricted free agents.
This is the rationale for a possible Stamkos departure from Tampa Bay, while Bleacher Report’s Eric Beaston believes he will stay in Florida and sign with the Stanley Cup-winning Panthers.
Beaston lists a few other teams as possible suitors, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he finally decided on Florida, pending their handling of a couple of their pending free players.
Beaston writes, “There are the Florida Panthers, a team that is looking forward to winning its first Stanley Cup but is also very likely to lose some combination of Sam Reinhart, Nick Cousins, and Vladimir Tarasenko.” “Removing those players would free up the cap space required to enable such a signing.”
Stamkos might be able to sign a contract on the open market with an annual cap hit of about $8.5 million, based on Evolving Hockey’s estimations regarding contracts.
The Entertaining Free Agency of Steven Stamkos
With the Tampa Bay Lightning, the only team he has ever known, Stamkos recently finished another fantastic season. Despite being 34 years old, the Bolts captain averaged a substantial 18:13 minutes per game in 2024, scoring 40 goals and providing 41 assists in 79 games.
Stamkos’ eight-year, $68 million deal will end on July 1st, at which point he will be free to sign with anybody. During his 16-year career with the Lightning, Stamkos has accumulated 1,137 points from 555 goals and 582 assists in 1,082 regular-season games.
In addition, he has scored an incredible 101 points in 128 postseason games and helped Tampa Bay win two of its four Stanley Cup Final series. But rather than searching elsewhere, Stamkos voiced hope about re-signing with Tampa Bay during his farewell interview on May 3.
“Those conversations are necessary, and I’m happy that we will be having them. After that, we can continue,” stated Stamkos. “In the end, my motivation still comes from winning. I get fuel from being a significant part of that culture.
Despite not being quite as successful as the Lightning, the Panthers have emerged as a serious contender recently, having made two straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final.
Cap Restrictions May Need Stamkos to Leave Tampa Bay
The Tampa Bay Lightning’s recent acquisition of defenseman Ryan McDonagh may make it more difficult for them to re-sign Stamkos. The move increased the Lightning’s payroll by $6.75 million due to McDonagh’s cap charge, leaving them with roughly $5.3 million in anticipated cap space for the upcoming year.
While acknowledging the difficulties brought forth by the salary cap, general manager Julien BriseBois was hopeful that he might find a way to keep Steven Stamkos.
“Some cap space is still available. As of now, Steven Stamkos is unsigned. That is still going on. Even after acquiring Ryan McDonagh, we can still, in my opinion, work with Steven to complete a project that benefits the team,” remarked Beaupre-BriseBois on May 21, as reported by Chris Krenn.