It sure looks like Tampa Bay Lightning captain and superstar Steven Stamkos is headed to unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career on Monday.
According to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, the 34-year-old isn’t close to signing a deal to remain with the only team he’s ever known with Stamkos’ agent Don Meehan texting LeBrun “He will be a free agent on July 1″.
Stammer played 79 games last season, scoring at least 40 goals for the seventh time in his career to go along with 41 assists. There are plenty of teams who would love that kind of production, even if the center eats up 10 percent of a roster’s cap space.
The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn projects Stamkos will cost interested suitors an AAV of $8.9 million. So which teams can afford him? Let’s break down Stammer’s most-likely landing spot.
All odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
1. Tampa Bay Lightning (+110)
Ok, listen. Until he’s not a member of the Lightning, I have a hard time imaging Stamkos anywhere else. He’s a future Hall of Famer and helped bring two Stanley Cups back to Tampa Bay. It’s tough to let that walk out the door.
The Bolts enter this offseason with a projected $5.3 million in cap space per CapFriendly, but let’s not put it past GM Julien BriseBois to get creative to keep his captain.
2. Detroit Red Wings (+400)
Whether or not this was part of the Yzerplan all along kind of feels irrelevant. Detroit has plenty of cap space and a fan base desperate to return to the playoffs for the first time in nine years after snapping a streak of 25 consecutive postseason appearances.
Per CapFriendly, the Wings will have a projected $32.7 million available this offseason as it figures out what to do with UFA’s including Patrick Kane, David Perron, James Reimer and Shayne Gostisbehere — not to mention RFA’s Joseph Veleno and Lucas Raymond.
It’s easy to imagine Stamkos feeding Alex DeBrincat on a top line, it’s just a matter of what Steve Yzerman thinks this team’s ceiling is over the next few years as Stammer gets older.
3. Nashville Predators (+700)
The Predators averaged the 10th-best goals for per game last season (3.24) and the 16th-best power play (21.6 percent). Stamkos would be an instant improvement to both numbers while putting the forward in an extremely-winnable Central Division.
Nashville is expected to have $26.3 million in cap space as Anthony Beauvillier, Jason Zucker, Tyson Barrie and Alexandre Carrier become UFAs. That’s more than enough to get Stamkos to the Music City.
