Can you believe Stamkos and Lightning split up? 

That's not the right way to look at it. Tampa offered him more term in exchange for a lower cap hit. $3 million for 8 years. (Or $8 million for 3 years, if you spread the money total over a shorter number of years.) Nashville offered the same, but one more year. Granted, it would be easier for Tampa to buy out those last few years, so that's a concern for Stamkos. But people are getting too hung up on the cap hit. Stamkos wanted $4-$5 million for eight years. Nashville didn't even give him that.

Classic Tampa move they did the same to Marty stlouis and Mike richards

That old-dog Stamkos sure knows some tricks.

@@charlesberry8835 Mike Richards eh lol

Ya not surprised people move on , maybe he would go back for final season. Look at forsberg, niedemyer , pavelski, praise

Dude, no. Guentzel has nothing on Stamkos from, say, five years ago. Today, every team in the league would take Guentzel over Stamkos. He's cheaper (as a percentage of the cap compared to when Stamkos signed), faster and he produces more offense. Stamkos's underlying numbers are in decline, and he's been playing with Kucherov.

@@jon8004 Those are legit points but if you’re a Guentzel fan then you know he’s played with Crosby all these years so it’s not fair to say Stamkos is a product of Kucherov. Yes Stamkos is in decline. But he’s a finisher for Kucherov and he’s accomplished a lot for the TB organization. And he took team friendly contracts before so they should have reciprocated. My point is, they paid up big time for other players like McDonough but not for Stamkos, who’s still scoring 40 goals a year?!?

@@daniellee6398 They paid McDonagh for two years. And if he's not worth it after this year, it's easy to buy out. Stamkos wanted significant money and term. He wanted a sentimental, legacy contract similar to what Ovechkin and Backstrom recently got in Washington. But Tampa's situation is different. It still has younger players right in their primes. They can't afford to be giving Stamkos "thank you" contracts if they want to compete. Tampa clearly doesn't trust that he'll still be good in 2-3 years. If they gave him term, it would have made Tampa less flexible to respond to market opportunities. And if Stamkos is doing really well with Kucherov, it's hard to believe Guentzel won't do just as well.

@@jon8004 Guentzel is a solid winger but he’s never scored more than 40 goals in a season. He’s only had more than 82 pts in a season once. This is in spite of playing alongside a generational talent like Crosby his whole career. No disrespect but Stamkos is a legend in TB and their long time captain. Guentzel was never the face of Penguins org nor will he be in TB. Stamkos wasn’t even asking for the money he eventually got with Nashville. $3M offer was a slap in the face. I’m not a fan of this GM. Period.

@@daniellee6398 Tampa isn't interested in what either player has done in the past. Tampa believes over the next four or five years, Guentzel will be significantly better than Stamkos. Considering the age difference between the two, I think that's hard to dispute. Whether Stamkos is a "legend" or the "face" of the Lightning doesn't seem to matter to the GM, or at least not enough for him to avoid what he did. It makes sense. To me, Kucherov is arguably the best player in the world. I'll be curious to see how Stamkos fares this year with lesser teammates in Forsberg and Josi.

They said the same about the leafs when they got Tavares

Unlikely.

I don't see it...This team is kind of old,and a lot of these players are past their prime...Pretty sure they have the most 30+ year old players in the whole NHL..Sure they have skill,but come playoff time i feel they lack speed.

It goes both ways. Teams screw players, and players screw teams.

Take note of this to all future players who are home grown and come up through Tampa's system. Don't take discounts period... These fools need to learn a lesson.

montreal is dogshit lol no they arent

*_You_** didn't*

They really didn't have to take a gamble to stay competitive. Guentzel is not a leader and is not physical. You got rid of a 40 goal scoring captain who has been the face of the franchise for 16 years and wanted to be there. Stamkos established a winning culture in Tampa, and would've been willing to take a very team friendly deal to keep the team competitive. Winning again with that core group would've been a lot more special. Also, plus/minus is an extremely overrated stat especially when your job is to score goals (which he does)

you're making too much sense for the emotional snowflakes and morons on this comment section.

A nice pot shot at the Leafs. Bolts are gaining reputation as a team, where great players do not retire. Lecavalier, St. Louis, Richard, Boyle, and now Stamkos. Young players will notice, home town discount of re-signing didn't do much for Stamkos.

One of the many reasons you are not a GM.

Yeah and Jake Guetzel is not worth 9 million hahahah. He plays at best like a guy worth 7. So there's some irony there forsure. Bad moves

Certain players deserve a level of respect after what they have given your team.

@@S_67Fthe Lightning have paid Stamkos $100 million dollars (to play a sport). That’s plenty of respect. I’m sure the Lightning would be happy to pay Stamkos $5-$6 million per year- maybe Stamkos could show them some ‘respect’ by taking that deal, no? Good organizations pay players for what they’re going to do, or what they’ve done. They’re running a team not trying to make friends.

@@zalapski9399 Stamkos would have taken the $5-$6 million per year, but they instead only offered him $3m x 8 years which is honestly an insult to the level of player that Stamkos is. It's not just his on-ice performance, it's also how he leads the team. The guy is also a major locker room presence since he's been through it all so many times.

@zalapski9399 When it comes down to it, it's a business....but th ey have always been good to their free agents. They weren't offering 5-6 million. It was 3! Doesn't matter now, but it's the Bolts that come out of this looking bad.

@@zalapski9399 See where your logic is flawed is that he would've taken that deal lol.

he is talking about how they always had extensions a year before but always left stammer hanging on the last day to resign and he has been resigned twice

@@ahmedansari1949 oh ok thanks I was a little confused about what he meant

It's possible,but this team isn't young and could be lacking speed..Stamkos,O'Reilly,Marchessault,Sissons,Forsberg,Nyquist,Josi,Skjei,Schenn will all be in their 30's once the season starts.

there was no way that was his asking price. they offered him 3 mil

@@kelly4236 the $3m x 8y offer by JBB was retarded, both for the team and the player. if you watched JBB's press conference monday night, he mentioned that steven had a "financial expectation" of what he wanted to be paid. i won't deny, the optics of how this turned out look really bad, and its unfortunate that steven is no longer with the team. tampa is also a team that is very comfortable in how they run their business. they are ruthless when they have to be. if you want to achieve success, that's just how it is. tampa going from stammer to guentzel actually shows they aren't going to follow in PIT or WSH's skates, condemning themselves with "thank you for your service" contracts until their stars burn out. 😎

@@carparthero Stamkos wanted $4-5 million per for 8 years. He was insistent on that. Tampa was wise to move on. In the end, Nashville didn't even give him that.

No one overlooked that Guentzel is a great young player that will contribute a lot to the team. It's the disrespect shown to your captain that has led this team to a ton of success over a 16 year career. Is he the all around player he used to be? Of course not, but they could've made him a lifetime player on a team friendly deal if they wanted to. Very unprofessional by the front office.

@@ItsJared___ You give that kind of contract to a team that's on the verge of rebuilding. Tampa isn't anywhere near that. To give Stamkos a team-friendly deal would hamper their ability to upgrade the team. A team that still has Kucherov, Point, Hagel, etc., isn't going to sacrifice or limit its potential by giving Stamkos a sack of cash and term. He wanted $4-5 million for 8 years. If he wanted three years, maybe four, he would have gotten it. He wanted 8. I wouldn't sign that contract either. You'd be stealing the team's future from its existing prime-age players. That's awful management.

uhh hockey fans?

@@zackyep old washed up

next time, post comments first, then smoke crack afterwards. you'll come across as a bit less retarded lol.

lay off the molson adult beverage products bud.

@@good2goskee k.

Kucherov' 1st great season was 2016-2017. Stamkos played 569 games before that. In those games he had 312 goals & 250 assists for 562 points. Please do some semblance of research before saying stupid shit.

@@sportsfan_913 tampa isn't interested in what steven has done in the past. tampa believes over the next four or five years, guentzel will be the better investment than stamkos. considering jake is 29 and steven 34, that's easy to see. whether stamkos is a "legend" or the "face" of the lightning doesn't seem to matter to JBB, or at least not enough for him to avoid what he did. and it makes sense. kucherov is arguably the one of the best players on planet earth. am intrigued to see how stamkos fares this year with lesser teammates in forsberg and josi.

@g00glesucksatprivacy60 i mean if you take enough drugs, you could believe what you just wrote lol. you give that kind of contract that NSH gave to steven, to a team that's on the verge of rebuilding, or a team that has the cap space and can afford it. tampa isn't anywhere near that. to give stamkos a player-friendly deal would hamper their ability to upgrade, let alone maintain the team. a team that is 14th ranked in average age of the roster. a team still has kucherov, point, hagel, hedman, vasilevskiy, and others, isn't going to sacrifice or limit its potential by giving stamkos a sack of cash and term. steven says wanted $4-5m AAV. tampa offered $3m x 8y which was retarded. if you watched the JBB press conference monday night of free agency day, he said that steven had a "financial expectation" of what he wanted to get paid. so it was def more than $4-$5m/year. thing is, JBB and steven aren't going to shit-talk each other in public, so we'll never know the truth. paying a 34-year old declining PP specialist winger, with a dog-💩minus 21...it would be pickpocketing the team's future from its existing prime-age players. that's awful asset and time management. almost as awful as your lame take.