What’s the crime and will there be parole?

The right choice.

SS should no more end his career in another jersey than Sidney Crosby or Drew Doughty.

You're likely going to need to pay to get rid of Sheary.

Other players who have had down years have been able to get positive returns without needing to add an asset.

An example from Tampa in recent years is McDonagh. His contract looked terrible at the time he was dealt to NSH and yet the Lightning didn't have to add anything to trade him.

the guy scored 40. pay him.

You're just pissed he's going to take below market to stay

why would i be pissed? i assume he's going to take below market. $8M is below market.

He'll most likely sign between 5.5-6.5 he knows the cap situation and wants more rings here.

I was watching a Habs podcast called The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro, and they interviewed the Lightning commentators (I forget what their names were).
Tony was asking about how TB could afford Stamkos and if they thought Stamkos would sign with Montreal to be with Martin St.Louis.
They said there is almost zero percent that Stamkos will leave TB.
What they suggest that will happen is that TB will sign Stamkos to an 8 year contract that is heavily front loaded.
So it essentially will look like this:
4 years at $10 million followed by 4 years at $1 million for a total of $44 million over 8 years, which would give a cap hit of $5.5 million per season.
So after Stamkos plays the first 4 years he would then be 39 years old and have collected $40 million of his $44 million.
Stamkos would then only have $4 million left owed to him over the next 4 years.
He would then retire and TB would be off the hook for the remaining 4 years of cap hit at $5.5 million.
Stamkos could then take some sort of office job and get paid the remaining $4 million but it won't count against TBs cap.

Sounds pretty sketchy but seems like something TB would do.

stop listening to that pod - the CBA doesn't allow this.

Yeah I agree it'll be something like that however how you're describing is not allowed you can only drop 50 of highest salary in a contract and only 35 % max from one year to next. In other words if the highest annual salary is $10,000,000 the lowest can be $5,000,000

Because Stamkos is 34 before the 2024-25 season starts the 35+ CBA rule would not apply to him

What is a 35-plus contract?
A contract is designated a 35+ contract if the players age on the first year of the contract is 35 or older (as of June 30 prior to the year of the effective contract).

35+ contracts that are two years in length or longer and:
1. Have a signing bonus in the 2nd or later year, OR
2. Are front-loaded
Will not benefit from a reduced cap hit regardless of the players location of play, termination, retired status, or a buyout. This rule was introduced by the NHL to prevent teams from backloading contracts past when the player was expected to retire. An exception to this rule is that a team will receive a $100,000 cap hit reduction if the player is on the 2nd or later year of the contract and assigned to the minors

I copied and pasted this from this website so I assume this info is correct
So if this is correct then because Stamkos turns 35 in February, TB can sign him to the contract mentioned above and not be liable for the cap hit if he retires after 4 years.

ya no.

they got rid of the frontloaded contracts for every contract in the NHL. there can be fluctuation from year to year, but nowhere close to what you're describing. and if that wasn't the case, if stamkos retired after four years the lightning would be hit with a ridiculous recapture penalty.

So no, everything about that deal is illegal and cannot be done. there can't be a difference of more than 25% in adjacent years, and there cannot be more than a 50% difference in any years.

No contract ELC, STANDARD PLAYER CONTRACT, OR 35+ CONTRACT allows a variation of no greater than 50% between greatest and least annual salary also no more than a 35% from one year to next in other words to give Stamkos 10,000,000, years 1-4 like stated the last 3 annual salaries would be (minimum salary cap hit would be 6.5 million then 3 years of 5 which would bring the AAV up to $7,762,500