Lightning GM explains decision to sign Guentzel but not Stamkos

02/07/2024

The most shocking transaction in a day full of transactions across the NHL saw the Tampa Bay Lightning and captain Steven Stamkos split after 16 seasons.

The divorce was inevitable — Stamkos first expressed his frustration with the lack of contract talks in September — but the move still sent waves across the league.

“I know the fans are disappointed, I know Steven is disappointed and I’m disappointed,” Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said Monday evening, after his team had agreed to a seven-year, $63-million contract with Jake Guentzel and Stamkos had joined the Predators on a four-year, $32-million pact.

“Like everyone, I wanted Stammer to stay in Tampa and finish his career with the Lightning. But like for every player, we had limits that I felt were the limits we could allocate (cap space) to him.”

BriseBois said that Stamkos “definitely wanted to stay in Tampa” but added that he felt bending to his captain’s contract demands would hurt the club long term.

“It was clear throughout our process that he also had financial expectations that he expected us to meet,” BriseBois said. “And ultimately I felt and made the decision that if I agreed to the terms that he wanted in order to get a deal done I would not be putting ourselves in the best position to chase championships going forward. And ultimately we need to make decisions that are in the best interest of the team’s success.”

BriesBois said Stamkos’ age did factor into the decision to wait until after the season to discuss a contract. Stamkos, 34, is four years older than Guentzel, who will turn 30 just as the next regular season opens.

The GM listed off a long list of stars from across the league who, when in their mid-30s, have also been walked to free agency by their teams and said it was more common than not that teams take that path.

“If you look at the last five years, give or take, since the cap kind of got flat, players that are Hall of Famers like Steven or players that are going to get consideration for the Hall of Fame that are 34 years old or older that were up for their fourth contract, I think only one signed a deal a year early and it’s Anze Kopitar,” BrisBois said. “The only other one that I found that signed before his previous contract had lapsed was Nicklas Backstrom, who signed in January right before the contract lapsed.

“But if you look at the others, Patrice Bergeron, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Kristopher Letang, Joe Pavelski, Claude Giroux, some of them stayed with their teams and signed extensions but it was after their contract had lapsed, some like Steven ended up signing somewhere else. So the exception is Anze Kopitar and we’re far along with Victor here, he will probably be the second exception. It’s not the other way around, I think the circumstances were just different.

“The cap has been flat for a long time and cap space gets allocated to young players.”

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