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TAMPA — In every single place Steven Stamkos appeared, there was one other reminiscence.
The Tampa waterfront the place he and his teammates celebrated two Stanley Cup championships on jet skis and get together boats. The sector ice the place he tallied so a lot of his targets (555) and factors (1,137) in 1,082 video games, all of them probably the most in Tampa Bay Lightning historical past. The lengthy concourse he’d stroll down on numerous gamedays, previous a slim concrete rink the place his son Carter would observe slapshots like his dad’s. The Zamboni entrance the place Carter would gleefully obsess over the ice resurfacing machines in his father’s arms.
“Most of my life has been right here,” Stamkos stated, glancing round a lounge inside Amalie Enviornment. “That is the place all of it started as an 18-year-old child. The place I grew up from a boy to a person to a Stanley Cup champion. The place I turned a husband and a father.”
It nonetheless felt like residence, however now he was a customer. Stamkos stepped on the ice for warmups on Monday in a No. 91 Nashville Predators jersey: His new staff, the one which handed him a four-year free-agent contract after a really public, very contentious negotiation with the Lightning failed to provide a brand new deal.
After 16 seasons, Steven Stamkos is not a member of the Lightning; and for the primary time in 16 seasons, the Lightning did not have Steven Stamkos as their star on and off the ice.
“Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to be synonymous with one another till the top of time. He did all the pieces we requested of him for a lot of, a few years,” coach Jon Cooper stated.
That’s, till the Lightning requested one thing of Stamkos that he refused to do: Signal a considerably discounted contract extension to provide them salary-cap flexibility.
Coming into the ultimate yr of an eight-year, $68 million contract in 2023-24, Stamkos indicated he wished to increase that deal and end his profession with the Lightning. However at coaching camp final yr, Stamkos informed the media he was “disappointed” to not have engaged in significant contract talks with GM Julien BriseBois.
On the time, BriseBois stated he additionally wished Stamkos to retire with the Lightning and that they shared a mutual aim of successful one other Stanley Cup. However he stated there would not be a clean verify for this star captain when the staff had different roster issues. “To ensure that us to [contend] in future years, we will have to spend our cap {dollars} as correctly as attainable,” the GM stated.
Stamkos had 40 targets — his seventh season with 40-plus tallies — and 81 factors in 79 video games final season, a robust ultimate argument to maintain him round. What he did not have was a contract provide to his liking, with a number of studies stating that Tampa Bay had offered just $3 million annually to the 34-year-old star.
Even after BriseBois traded defenseman Mikhail Sergachev ($8.5 million common annual worth) to Utah and ahead Tanner Jeannot ($2.665 million AAV) to the Los Angeles Kings within the offseason, their provide to Stamkos didn’t increase forward of free company.
“You did not actually know what is going on on. Stammer wasn’t speaking about it. Clearly, the staff’s not speaking about it,” Lightning ahead Nick Paul stated. “So we had been watching like everybody else and simply type of like, ‘Is it going to occur? Are they going to do it?’ After which issues went the way in which they went.”
BriseBois informed Stamkos’ agent they had been letting him discover the free-agent market. “We have now to see what’s finest for the Lightning group and Steven has to do what’s finest for him, his profession and his household,” he stated.
What was finest for the Lightning: Signing free-agent winger Jake Guentzel, 4 years youthful than their captain, to a seven-year, $63 million contract to take Stamkos’ spot on the staff’s high line with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.
What Stamkos needed to do for him and his household: Inking a four-year cope with the Predators, ending his time with the one NHL staff he’d identified.
“It isn’t for an absence of effort on my aspect to make issues work out in Tampa, but it surely’s not honest to Nashville for me to take a seat right here and say I actually wished to be in Tampa,” Stamkos informed TSN on the time. “Everybody is aware of I did. It did not work out, and I am simply as thrilled to be becoming a member of the Nashville Predators, for a mess of causes.”
Monday was the awkward, heartfelt and considerably cathartic reunion between a homegrown celebrity going to his former residence. It was an opportunity to have a good time a singular legacy in Tampa sports activities historical past. It was a second for Steven Stamkos to show the web page on his previous, as he struggles to forge a brand new legacy in Nashville.
“Breakups are arduous. It is the cleaning soap opera of sports activities. It is why we watch it,” Cooper stated. “It is for moments like this. To see how the drama of life goes to unfold.”
AMID THE SEA of No. 91 jerseys mulling round Amalie Enviornment on Monday was a person in a classic T-shirt that learn “Seen Stamkos?”
That was the staff’s advertising and marketing marketing campaign main as much as his choice as first total decide within the 2008 draft. There have been shirts and bumper stickers and a lo-fi web site that chronicled his accomplishments with the OHL Sarnia Sting and Canada’s junior nationwide staff.
The Lightning had been in a bizarre place in 2008. They had been 4 years faraway from their first and solely Stanley Cup win. That they had franchise icons Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis highlighting an in any other case underwhelming roster. Oren Koules, most well-known for producing the “Noticed” movies, and former NHL participant Len Barrie bought the staff for what can be a tumultuous possession run till Jeff Vinik bought the Lightning in 2010.
After a 46-point rookie season as an 18-year-old heart, Stamkos put collectively three straight 90-point seasons, scoring 51, 45, and 60 targets throughout that run. Step by step, reinforcements arrived: Defenseman Victor Hedman was the No. 2 total decide in 2009; star winger Nikita Kucherov was a second-round decide in 2011; goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was taken nineteenth total in 2012; and Brayden Level was a third-round decide in 2014. Jon Cooper moved up from the AHL to turn out to be head coach in 2013.
“The primary time I addressed the staff, I bear in mind seeing what I knew was going to be a number of Corridor of Famers in that room — together with our normal supervisor on the time,” Cooper stated, referencing former Lightning architect Steve Yzerman.
There are a lot of explanation why the Lightning turned maybe the NHL’s biggest “non-traditional market” success story over the past twenty years. There was Vinik’s unimaginable funding within the staff and the world surrounding their downtown area. There was a run of 10 playoff appearances in 11 seasons, together with six journeys to the convention finals, 4 journeys to the Stanley Cup Closing and two Cup wins.
“I understand how wonderful the fan base is right here. To have the ability to develop up with them, and to see the transition of this entire market into such a hockey-crazed place … it wasn’t at all times that method,” Stamkos stated. “However with the success the group has had, it is a fairly, fairly particular place.”
Stamkos was the franchise participant — the third finest goal-scorer of his era behind Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, and an plain draw.
“If individuals sit right here and say, ‘What was the best factor about Steven Stamkos?’ it is like, ‘You recognize what? You’ll be able to take his targets and all these issues he did on the ice, however he was an unbelievable ambassador for our staff and for our league,'” Cooper stated. “These are the issues that you just simply sit there and also you marvel about.”
He wasn’t simply the face on a billboard or the identify on the again of a best-selling jersey. Stamkos was part of the neighborhood. He partnered with Ronald McDonald Home Charities of Tampa Bay early in his profession, elevating funds and consciousness for the non-profit group that helps households with sick youngsters. When he married his spouse Sandra, they requested for donations to Ronald McDonald Home of Tampa and Canada in lieu of items.
On the ice, Stamkos had a quantifiable affect on the Lightning’s success. However behind the scenes, the Tampa Bay captain — taking the C from St. Louis in 2014 — was a frontrunner and a outstanding affect on his teammates.
“He is at all times one of many hardest working guys in observe. He units the instance,” stated Hedman, who took over as captain when Stamkos left. “He is aware of when to speak and when to get on guys and get on us as a staff. He was simply actually good at discovering methods to push guys’ buttons to extend our possibilities of successful video games. However he is a genuinely good man that makes everybody really feel welcome to the staff that was new.”
When the Lightning acquired Paul from Ottawa in 2022, he additionally noticed that aspect of Stamkos.
“All the pieces he did, he at all times did with the individual in thoughts first,” he stated. “It was clearly concerning the staff, but it surely was how he managed the individuals and the way he managed personalities and the way he made you’re feeling like he was at all times there for you first over all the pieces.
“That is an enormous deal when you’ve got a captain that cares about everybody within the room, whether or not you are a rookie or 10 years in, and you are going by way of one thing, he is there for you and he is aware of the way to convey everybody collectively and play at their finest.”
Analyst Brian Engblom, who has been part of Lightning broadcasts since 2015, sees Stamkos as a towering presence in staff historical past.
“I do not know that there is been anyone greater than him. He is been Mr. All the pieces right here,” Engblom stated. “The 2 Cups. Management. Impression in massive conditions on and off the ice. Character within the room. He is as massive because it will get right here on the town.”
That established, Engblom wasn’t shocked to see Stamkos find yourself taking part in for a staff aside from the Lightning.
“I gave up excited about stuff like that after Gretz obtained traded,” he stated, in reference to the 1988 blockbuster that noticed the Edmonton Oilers commerce icon Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings. “Gordie Howe left Detroit. Bryan Trottier left the Islanders. And now this.”
THE MEMORIES REMAINED for Steven Stamkos when he walked by way of the sector on Monday.
All the pieces else was totally different. “It is a bit of bizarre getting into by way of the opposite door,” he stated of the guests’ dressing room.
Engblom, a former NHL goaltender, stated it may be disorienting for a participant returning to his longtime residence on one other staff.
“You are on the unsuitable aspect of the ice. You are happening the unsuitable hallway. All the pieces is backwards,” he stated. “You do not really feel good. You recognize you are in a well-recognized place but it surely’s like anyone turned all of it the other way up.”
It is also disorienting to have buddies abruptly turn out to be foes.
“It is powerful. Not only for the participant coming again, however for the gamers that performed with him,” Engblom stated. “Victor Hedman and Stammer are blood brothers. It is a powerful recreation for him to exit and play.”
Hedman and Stamkos frolicked final weekend at Hedman’s home, the place Stamkos’ spouse Sandra stayed for the sport in a visitor bed room. (Their two sons remained again in Nashville for college.)
“We have been collectively for a really very long time. We are able to nonetheless get on one another and attempt to push one another to be higher,” Hedman stated.
Does Hedman have a wholesome textual content relationship with Stamkos?
“Wholesome?” he responded, grinning.
OK, what a couple of frequent textual content relationship?
“Yeah, I imply, we’re nonetheless buddies and that is by no means gonna change,” he stated. “It has been bizarre not having him round, however we all know we’re only a cellphone name away or a textual content away. We’re there for one another every time it is wanted.”
Stamkos had dinner with a lot of former teammates on Sunday night time.
“It is bizarre. I’ve dinner with among the guys final night time and it is like I by no means left, proper? That is simply the bond that you’ve. And then you definitely get on the ice, there’s the aggressive nature in each side that comes out, so there’s not a lot chit-chat. You then see one another proper after the sport and it is like we had been simply again to final night time,” he stated. “So that is the lifetime of an athlete. It is cliché that there is not any buddies on the ice, and also you’re clearly not seeking to kill anybody on the market, however you need to win simply as dangerous as they need to win.”
When Stamkos skated out for warmups, Lightning followers had crowded the decrease bowl across the guests’ tunnel. They cheered him loudly. Many had indicators in assist of their former captain. Some protested administration about not bringing him again, together with one girl close to the glass who prominently displayed a “My GM Sucks” shirt.
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Stamkos was within the beginning lineup for Nashville on Monday night time in opposition to the Lightning.
“It was bizarre to see him standing on the blue line, not in our jersey, for the anthem and that opening faceoff,” Cooper stated. “However then abruptly it turns right into a hockey recreation.”
Early within the recreation, Stamkos and Hedman skated again to chase a unfastened puck, awkwardly bumping into one another, neither actually wanting all that snug with their new roles as rivals. There was pressure for the primary couple of minutes of the sport, as everybody anticipated the tribute video that loomed within the first interval.
Round seven minutes into the sport, the scoreboard lit up with pictures of a younger Stamkos in his hockey gear. Lightning followers rose to their toes because the tribute started: a two-minute montage of Stamkos’ journey, crammed with highlights, clutch moments, his brotherhood with teammates and relationship with followers.
The digital scoreboards across the rink lit up along with his profession stats, awards and accomplishments, together with the slogan “Endlessly 91” and thanks messages.
“I used to be excited about how comfortable I’ve gone in my elder years. I simply began welling up,” Cooper stated as he watched the video. “How do you match 16 years right into a two-minute video? It virtually would not really feel proper. It was extraordinarily nicely achieved. However in the long run, it would not matter how nicely you do it. You will by no means do it justice.”
On the conclusion of the video, the spotlights hit Stamkos, who skated from the Predators bench — the place Nashville gamers had been engrossed by the video tribute — to the center of the rink, elevating his stick with the followers as the sector projected his No. 91 on the ice, as has turn out to be custom when former Lightning stars return to Tampa on new groups.
When play started once more, Lightning followers loudly chanted “Ste-ven Stamkos” in honor of their former captain.
“I do not assume it is goodbye. I feel it is extra of a ‘thanks, goodbye’ kind of factor,” Stamkos stated.
Stamkos helped the Predators hit the scoreboard within the second interval after the Lightning constructed a 2-0 lead on targets by Brayden Level and Mitchell Chaffee within the first. The Tampa followers went from booing the announcement of the aim to cheering Stamkos’ identify for having helped create it.
The cheers had been a bit of extra muted when Stamkos arrange the tying aim by Gustav Nyquist simply over eight minutes later, though many Lightning followers nonetheless cheered loudly when his identify was introduced. The one boos Stamkos obtained through the recreation got here in extra time, when the Predators patiently managed the puck moderately than attacking offensively.
Additional time ended on a aim by Paul that was assisted by Guentzel, who matched Stamkos’ output with two assists of his personal within the recreation. It was an emotional night time for everybody. That undoubtedly included the participant who ostensibly changed Stamkos, too.
“Every time a captain goes, it is a massive shock,” Paul stated. “However clearly these are modifications that administration is making as a result of they assume it is the perfect factor for us to go and win the Stanley Cup. So we have got to belief in that.”
Each Cooper and Hedman stated they had been assured Guentzel understood the dynamics on Stamkos Evening — and was OK with them.
“The one factor that I attempt to impart to him and everyone else is that’s he is not changing Stamkos, as a result of Stamkos created his personal legacy right here and Guentzel’s obtained seven years to create his personal legacy,” Cooper stated. “We weren’t essentially on the lookout for a right-handed shooter on the facility play. We obtained a playmaking lefty winger that brings totally different attributes to the sport. “So yeah, the following seven years are Jake Guentzel nights. Tonight is Steven Stamkos’ night time.”
For the following 4 seasons, it is Nashville that can witness Steven Stamkos nights, as he tries to forge a brand new legacy with a brand new staff.
It hasn’t been straightforward for him or the Predators up to now.
THE MOST SURPRISING ASPECT of Stamkos’ transfer to Nashville? His household has dealt with it significantly better than he has.
“I most likely thought that the household transition was going to be tougher than the hockey one, and it is type of been the other,” he stated. “However I might moderately have it that method, the place my spouse and children are making the transition after which I can determine it out myself.”
Kids are adaptable. Stamkos stated the “new regular” for Carter and Chase Stamkos is being a part of the Nashville Predators household, regardless of their Tampa roots.
“The mascot came visiting to our new place the second day we had been there and so they flipped fairly rapidly,” he stated. “It is humorous how that works.”
The transition has been a lot rockier for Stamkos. His two assists in opposition to Tampa Bay tripled his level whole on the season after 9 video games, having gone scoreless in his first 4 video games of the season earlier than a aim in opposition to Detroit on Oct. 19. His lack of manufacturing got here throughout a tough begin for the Predators, who had been 3-5-1 of their first 9 video games — a .389 factors proportion that ranked twenty eighth within the NHL — regardless of heavy preseason hype.
Stamkos was one among three high-profile free agent signings for GM Barry Trotz. The Predators additionally added ahead Jonathan Marchessault, a Conn Smythe winner for the Vegas Golden Knights, and Brady Skjei, a standout defenseman from the Carolina Hurricanes.
Predators heart Ryan O’Reilly was of their skates two years in the past when he was the big-ticket free agent signing in Nashville. Though the Predators made the playoffs in his first season, O’Reilly stated discovering chemistry between the imports and people already on the roster is difficult.
“It is at all times a problem, particularly bringing three unimaginable gamers which might be vital free brokers,” he stated. “It isn’t simply plugging them into some small roles. They’ve enormous roles right here and it takes time to get used to the system and what we’re doing right here.”
That is been very true for Skjei, who went from a man-on-man defensive system underneath Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour to a extra zone-oriented construction underneath Andrew Brunette in Nashville.
“Generally you catch your self like, ‘Oh, we’re not doing man-on-man anymore,'” he stated. “I imply, initially, it is undoubtedly only a totally different system and you have got little habits from the previous system that you have to attempt to break rapidly.”
Marchessault had six factors in his first 9 video games in Nashville, and feels that adjustment time is over.
“New atmosphere, new staff, new linemates … there is a interval of adjustment. However we’re 10 video games into the season, and it is time for me to step up,” Marchessault stated. “I got here right here to not change an entire lot. There is a good base right here. I wished to leap into their boat and assist them win.”
Stamkos stated he is placing vital stress on himself to carry out higher. That is one thing Hedman remembers seeing throughout their days collectively in Tampa.
“He was very arduous on himself at occasions as nicely. Perhaps too arduous,” the defenseman stated. “However he needs to be the perfect each single night time, so he places a variety of that stress on himself.”
However greater than what’s on the stat sheet, Stamkos is struggling along with his second act. He was a 16-year veteran in Tampa, surrounded by shut buddies and carrying the captain’s C on his chest. Now he is hit the reset button for all of that.
“It isn’t solely a brand new group, however a brand new group of fellows and it’s a must to discover your method a bit of bit. There’s some good days and a few days the place you are still figuring issues out,” Stamkos stated. “I used to be [in Tampa] for therefore lengthy. I used to be the man everybody was coming as much as with questions and issues, and I might have all of the solutions. Now I am the man asking the questions.”
Brunette acknowledged that it is nonetheless fairly early for everybody concerned.
“We’re nonetheless within the interval of attending to know him,” he stated. “He works extraordinarily arduous in his craft. I am actually impressed along with his work ethic and observe and what he is introduced day-after-day. You’ll be able to inform the management abilities he has by simply being there.”
Stamkos admits the transition from Bolt to Pred has been taxing on him mentally.
“There’s a transitional interval. I am definitely working by way of that proper now. Controlling the psychological facet is not one thing I’ve actually ever needed to fear about when it comes to simply being in that consolation zone — it was virtually similar to [feeling] that Zen on a regular basis due to the chemistry you construct with guys over quite a few years,” Stamkos defined. “Now you begin from scratch.”
New metropolis, new challenges and a brand new legacy for Stamos to create. This week helped him transfer on from the feelings tied to Tampa — from the buddies and reminiscences he left behind to the lingering bitterness about his departure. However as a lot as Stamkos has his eyes on the long run in Nashville, he admits he hasn’t turned the web page on the Lightning.
“I do not know when that second comes. If it comes, if it would not come,” he stated. “Once you’re on this place for therefore lengthy and have these reminiscences, I imply … I do not assume you possibly can ever actually fully flip the web page. That is most likely the fact.
“I dunno. We’ll see. I am going to let you recognize if that day comes.”
