Before we contemplate where Steven Stamkos might go next, let’s just take a moment to remember where this guy has been.
From the second Stamkos stepped on the ice for his sophomore NHL season, he became the best goal-scorer on Earth for, more or less, a five-year period. Between the start of the 2009-10 campaign through Nov. 11, 2013, Stamkos scored a league-high 199 goals in 311 contests. That’s 34 more goals than the second-place person in that timeframe (Alex Ovechkin, 165) and 59 more than the third-place guy (Corey Perry, 140).
If you’re wondering why we cited the Nov. 11 date in 2013, it’s because that marked the game when Stamkos crashed into the Tampa net on a backcheck in Boston and broke his leg.
While he was certainly still a fantastic goal-scorer after that injury, he never returned to the heights he achieved during Years 2 through 5 in the league.
Stamkos is undoubtedly not that player today, toiling for a second year on a go-nowhere Nashville club that’s believed to be contemplating some serious moves in the aftermath of a free-agent spending spree in 2024 that just did not work.
Both Stamkos and Preds centre Ryan O’Reilly appeared on our own Nick Kypreos’ first trade board of the season. Like Stamkos, O’Reilly was part of that drunken-sailor spendfest in 2024 by Nashville GM Barry Trotz, and Stamkos’ sizable $8-million cap hit through 2027-28 is definitely a big talking point — and potential sticking point — in all this speculation.
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Another part of that conversation is wondering how much the 35-year-old has left in the legs. Sure, he’s not the guy who terrorized goalies at the start of his career or even the player who routinely popped 40 goals during the back half of his long run in Tampa Bay. Still, this is a winger who scored 27 times last year on a team where basically nothing went right.
And while he’s scored only five times this year, when you have a track record like Stamkos’ and an impeccable reputation as a teammate who wants to win, teams are going to pay attention.
The reality is, it’s not going to take a club’s ‘A’ package to acquire Stamkos, especially if said club can swing this without asking Nashville to retain much or any of Stamkos’ remaining bill.
There’s obviously not a cornucopia of suitors for Stamkos the way there would have been had he waited a couple more days and hit the open market in 2016, and there’s likely not even a team as eager as Nashville was when it handed him a huge check 18 months ago.
That said, teams are going to kick tires, and it’s worth wondering what might be in the right situation. If Stamkos is moved, here are some clubs that could be sensible landing spots.
Consider this line from Kypreos’ trade board piece: An acquiring team needs to make sure it has a facilitator who can feed Stamkos’ still-lethal shot.
Now picture talented rookie Ivan Demidov doing what he does best, gaining the blue line, surveying the landscape and whipping a cross-ice pass for Stamkos to hammer.
Hey, one of the high-end comparisons Demidov gets is Nikita Kucherov; why not complete the picture and pair him with Stamkos?
In all seriousness, Stamkos checks more boxes for the Habs than you might initially think. While he wouldn’t be the 2C the Canadiens would love to add — Stamkos is clearly a winger at this point — he’s a veteran presence who could add a second layer of scoring on a team that can be overly reliant on the top line.
Montreal has broken up the traditional top trio of Nick Suzuki between Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky recently to try to attain more balance. Getting Stamkos in the mix would help with that, and there really does seem like a fit with Demidov, especially on a power play unit.
The Canadiens just also happen to have a guy, in Patrik Laine, who accounts for a slightly higher AAV ($8.7 million) than Stamkos. If Montreal could send Laine — whose contract ends in July — back to Nashville, perhaps the Habs could get Stamkos without asking Nashville to eat money, thus lessening the prospect (or draft pick) capital required to get the player.
Winnipeg forwards have scored 69 goals this year, and 43 of them have come from the sticks of the three guys on the top line: Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi. That means one line has accounted for 63 per cent of the goals produced by forwards.
Why not try to catch the former Lightning in a bottle?
The Jets inked Gustav Nyquist to a one-year, $3.25-million deal in the hopes he could find a little spark and pot 20 goals. So far, he’s got zero in 17 outings.
Winnipeg could ship Nyquist back to Nashville to help clear some space for Stamkos.
Brad Lambert, the 30th pick in the 2022 draft, has been told by the organization he has permission to seek trade partners, and the Jets could also part with somebody like defenceman Ville Heinola — another first-round pick — if Nashville is interested in young players who need a fresh start.
It’s a risk, but Stamkos would surely be invigorated playing on a team with Cup aspirations and having a Canadian postal code for the first time in his pro career.
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Seattle doesn’t have a single player with 16 points this year. The only other club that can shamefully say that is the lowly St. Louis Blues. Each of the other 30 squads has at least two guys with 16 points.
The Kraken missed the playoffs each of the past two seasons and, from the start of 2023-24 through Thursday night, Seattle’s 2.77 goals per game ranks 30th in the NHL.
This franchise needs more talent, full stop.
Former Predator Eeli Tolvanen scored 23 goals for Seattle last year, but he’s stuck on three this season and is the final year of a contract that counts for $3.5 million against the cap. Shipping him back to Nashville would help open up some room.
Kraken coach Lane Lambert also has a long history with Barry Trotz, having worked on his bench as an assistant for years. You’d have to believe he has at least a slight in with the Nashville GM.
This is as good a time as any to mention that Stamkos has full no-move protection, but Seattle is a great place to live and the club is far more competitive than the one he’s currently on.
By law, you have to mention the Canes when players with a scoring pedigree become available. Carolina is perpetually coming up short in the latter stages of the playoffs and is in foot-to-the-floor mode when it comes to adding talent.
Carolina has loads of cap space and a power play that currently ranks 29th in the league at 14.7 per cent.
The Wings might have an obvious need for Stamkos on the face of it, with offence-first guys like sniper Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane — the first-overall pick in 2007 the year before “Stammer” went No. 1 — already in the top six.
Still, Detroit has lots of cap space and is pulling every lever it can to end a near decade-long playoff drought. And, of course, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman inked Stamkos to an eight-year deal (albeit after a drawn-out negotiation) in Tampa nine years ago.
