- Steven Stamkos à Montral...
- Au tour de Sportsnet d'en parler...
- Wow..
You won’t find his name cycling through the rumour mill, but that full-no movement clause in his contract has to be the only reason for that at this point.
How can you watch what the Lightning have done in these playoffs and not think many of their cap issues could be solved by moving the one player who hasn’t been able to take part in any of it?
They’d be losing their captain, but also a player who missed the last seven games of the regular season with a core injury and all of the playoffs with a lower-body injury.
Meanwhile, the Lightning have close to $69 million committed to just 15 players for next season, and they have star-caliber players in Anthony Cirelli and Mikhail Sergachev to sign. Erik Cernak, 23, averaged 19 minutes a game this season — and over 20 this post-season — and he isn’t going to come cheap, either.
And Kevin Shattenkirk, Jan Ruuta, Luke Schenn and Zach Bogosian are all pending unrestricted free agents, which means the Lightning are either going to have to spend to keep one or two of them or spend to replace them.
Maybe Montreal isn’t a destination of choice for Stamkos, but the Canadiens could be a logical trade partner for the Lightning. Even if they are a divisional rival — though it’s possible they won’t be one in 2020-21 — they are one of the few teams in the league who could absorb Stamkos’ full contract without having to trade money back in the deal.
They might have to move a player or two afterwards, but that’s got nothing to do with the Lightning.