Tampa Bay 2022

Team: 2021-22 Tampa Bay Lightning

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 8, 2021

Published: Jul. 8, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

The Tampa Bay Lightning have their backs up against the cap. Johnson is gone almost by default to Seattle, probably with a 1st next year. So then Tampa has a decision to make. They can stop there, call up some players, and hope to do it again. Secondly, they can dump one of Killorn, Gourde and McDononagh and resign one of Goodrow or Coleman. Or, they can go with mystery option C, trading Stamkos and re-signing Goodrow and Coleman. So is it a good idea to trade Stamkos? Well, I know that it seems crazy but he's very expensive and he's not really a big part of their team. Sure he's a leader but for their cap hit, Gourde, Killorn and McDononagh all provide more value and (in my opinion) are bigger parts of the identity of this team. At this point, Stamkos is a winger who basically just gets points on the powerplay. He is, of course, a leader, but cuts need to be made and a Stamkos for a young player on ELC deal would be smart in my opinion. Josh Norris, on the other hand, is interesting. He's one year away from needing a new contract but for now he's an interesting young center who had an underrated rookie season. Another side of this is whether Ottawa would make this deal and Stamkos would waive. Firstly, I do think that Ottawa would do this because they already have Pinto, they're probably going to get a center with their first this year, and they could play Stamkos at center or on the right wing, positions of need for Ottawa. Secondly, I do think that Stamkos would waive to go to Ottawa as I feel that he understands that his cap hit is to much, maybe he even wishes he was getting paid less and he knows that maybe the best thing he can do for Tampa, is to leave Tampa. Obviously though, it's still Steven Stamkos and he could easily bonce-back with a really good season on a team where he can be the go-to guy.

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