The salary cap exists in the NHL for a reason. Parity is important for the product on the ice and some franchises simply have more money with which to compile assets and build a perennially winning team. It's a necessary evil for fair play, but it's also the source of some of the greatest frustrations for the league's fans - and personnel men. For the Tampa Bay Lightning, it may, at some point in the not too distant future, mean a world where Steven Stamkos is no longer the team's captain. And while there's been no recent reports to suggest that that's on the verge of coming to pass, it does seem that there is a persistent sentiment in NHL circles that Lightning GM Steve Yzerman is rapidly approach a point of no return with his superstar forward.
"I don't know how Tampa puts their puzzle together with him at $10.5 million and still has 'the triplets' and Victor Hedman to sign [in the future]," an NHL agent told ESPN's Craig Custance recently.
As Custance notes, talks were "quiet" between Stamkos's reps and Yzerman this summer and, though one of those reps did recently indicate that the two sides remained "engaged," there has been nothing substantive since. Behind the scenes, a new deal could certainly be in the offing.
But the unnamed agent who spoke with Custance brought up an important point - the Lightning's cap situation and Stamkos' asking price will likely be the ultimately deciding factor here.
Hedman, a blossoming blueliner stepping further and further into elite territory with every passing day, has turned himself into a Norris-level player. He's in the penultimate year of a deal that carries a $4 million cap hit and it will be no small feat resigning him. He's comparable to a player like Erik Karlsson, whose current cap hit is $6.5 million, the ninth-highest figure for a defenseman.
If Stamkos is asking for $10.5 million per season as has been suggested, that's far too much money to have invested in two stars - especially considering Tyler Johnson (signed through 2016-17), Ondrej Palat (signed through 2016-17) and Nikita Kucherov (restricted free agent at the end of the season) will all need new deals in the near future. Then again, the Blackhawks currently have Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane locked up to deals at $10.5 million per season a piece and they remain one of the top teams in the league.
In the end, just as there are many ways to skin a cat, there are many ways to allocate salary cap dollars. But with Stamkos likely looking at this as his best chance to really cash in, he's probably not going to take it easy on the Lightning and Yzerman. And while he has full trade protection, he may be willing to facilitate a trade if it means signing his named on the dotted line of a deal that carries an eight-figure cap hit.
