Advertisement

Brian Lawton joined Naylor & Landsberg on TSN 1050 to discuss the future of Steven Stamkos earlier today. Lawton, as you may be aware, became Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Lightning (a few months later taking over the GM title) the same week Tampa drafted Stamkos in June of 2008.

First Lawton suggested the fact that a deal isn’t done already is an indicator that Stamkos’ future isn’t in Tampa Bay:

We don’t know what’s going on in Steven’s head, but I can tell you – as a General Manager obviously, when Stammer started his career – we used to talk about it back then. Whatever we do with this guy, we can never let him get to unrestricted free agency, or even close, because we’ll never be able to defend what some of the bigger markets can do. To be fair, for the Lightning, a lot of that has changed as far as from the ownership’s perspective. They have a lot more money to spend than when I was there. When we were drafting and developing Hedman and Stamkos, we always thought our future had to be through these two star players and then a lot of younger players continually, just to keep us competitive in the league.

My personal gut feeling, and I know no more than you guys, is that I have thought for quite a while now that odds were better than not that Steven Stamkos will not be back with the Lightning.

Lawton was then asked point blank if there could be any good reason why a contract extension hasn’t come to fruition yet.

No. There absolutely isn’t a good reason. He should be signed. Guys of this ilk, if they’re coming back, they’re signed by now.

Next came the Toronto question — Lawton was asked if he thinks Stamkos will choose the Leafs if all offers on the open market are roughly equal:

I do. I really do. I think Steven is really close with this family. He loves Toronto. He loves Tampa, don’t get me wrong; he’s enjoyed it down there, he’s had wonderful experiences down there. But, in my opinion, I could see him wanting to play very badly in Toronto. I say that because I think Steven is a guy that wants big moments for himself to be involved in. He’s not a selfish guy; he’s very humble, but I still think that he sees himself on the biggest stage in the National Hockey League. And that would be Toronto. I don’t think it’s discomforting for him.

Further to that, I think his family is there. The people he trains with are there. I think his agents are there. I think there is a lot of outside influence around him, that in their own view would like to see Steven in Toronto, too.

Next, on whether there are backchannels letting GMs know in advance about where a soon-to-be UFA player is leaning:

Absolutely. Believe it or not, obviously players, GMs and agents are bound to rules with regard to tampering, but all of those ancillary sources – not withstanding agents – are not. It’s possible that there are friends of Stamkos that are talking to him, suggesting to him he should be in Toronto and those same friends are friends with people who work for other teams in the National Hockey League. Those things do go on. That’s just the facts of life. They’re not bounds in any rules in regard to that. There’s really nothing [you can do]. The National Hockey League oversees all of this – they watch it very closely.

Lawton then spoke to the possibility that tampering is or could become a factor:

Of all the people in the NHL, the one guy that will never break the rules on something like this is Lou Lamoriello. For him, more than anything, having had it happen to him way back when… I just don’t see it. I’ve talked to Lou about what happened between the Blues and New Jersey Devils, pending fines and how that whole thing eventually came about. Lou’s integrity is off the charts and there’s just no way he would ever even remotely go down that path. There might be some other people in the NHL that do it, but Lamoriello will not be one of them.

Thursday Afternoon News & Links:

Previous articleWATCH: Mitch Marner’s four goals lead London comeback as Knights sweep Rangers
Next article2016 NHL Draft Aggregate Player Rankings — April 15
MLHS Staff
Founded in 2008, Maple Leafs Hotstove (MLHS) has grown to be the most visited independent team-focused hockey website online (Quantcast). Independently owned and operated, MLHS provides thorough and wide-ranging content, varying from news, opinion and analysis, to pre-game and long-form game reviews, and a weekly feature piece entitled "Leafs Notebook." MLHS has been cited by: ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CBC News, USA Today, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, TSN, Sportsnet, Grantland, CTV News, CBSSports, The Globe & Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, Global News, Huffington Post, and many more.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR