Photo Credit: Chris O’Meara/AP Photo
In the final season of his five-year contract, it looks like Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos won’t be traded prior to the NHL Trade Deadline, general manager Steve Yzerman said in a statement on Monday.
Stamkos’ $37.5 million contract carries a salary-cap charge of $7.5 million this season. On July 1st, he could become an unrestricted free agent. His deal has a no-movement clause and he has been eligible to sign a deal with Tampa Bay for as long as eight years since July 1, 2015. If he reaches the open market and signs with another team on or after July 1, 2016, the maximum deal length will have to be seven years for that team. He was a restricted free agent in July 2011 and it took him 18 days before he signed his five-year contract.
Stamkos holds a record of 21 goals and 40 points in 53 games so far this season. He was the first pick in the 2008 NHL Draft and has 297 goals and an impressive 538 points in 545 games, all with the Lightning. In 2010 and 2012 he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, and has had four 40-goal seasons and has scored at least 20 goals in each of his first eight seasons. He became the 20th player in league history to score 60 goals in a season in 2011-12.
The defending Eastern Conference champions, Tampa Bay Lightning, hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East.
