The Tampa Bay Lightning will address both Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman this offseason
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio with Steve Kouleas and Carter Hutton and when asked about Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, he stated is that Stamkos is the priority, but the team wants to get both signed.
** NHLRumors.com transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Real Discussions between Steven Stamkos and Lightning to Begin Next Month
Steve Kouleas: “We are with Dave Pagnotta Sirius XM NHL Network Television Insiders as the Fourth Period. Okay, next up, silly season topic. What’s the Tampa plan with 91 and 77? What are you hearing?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, well, it sounds like look, first of all, we’re going to address obviously both of them at some point. They have a little bit more leeway with Hedman because he’s got one more year on his contract, but they’ve indicated to Victor and his agent as well Peter Whelan that they’re going to have that discussion at some point this offseason. It really just depends on what happens with Steven Stamkos.
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Stammers the priority right now. He’s on an expiring deal. They want to get Hedman locked into a long-term extension, and I haven’t heard anything that would pronounce derail that possibility. So I think there’s a comfort level on both sides that okay, let’s figure out the captain first, and then we’ll work our way to an extension with the big defenseman. But Stamkos is the priority. And I think those discussions are going to start to intensify once the middle of the Conference Finals get underway.
They start this coming week. So at some point next week or right around June, is probably when those discussions will start to pick up at least. Alright, let’s put our cards on the table. Let’s figure out where we’re at. And Julien BriseBois the GM of Tampa, who’s going to indicate what his plan is, with the team moving forward and where he feels the captain fits in.
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Also, and primarily dollar-wise, so the priority right now for the Tampa side of things is let’s get the captain locked in and then they will try to get Victor Hedman locked into an extension.
He can’t find like everybody on an expiring contract with one year left on it can’t sign an extension until July 1 anyway. So there’s a little bit more leeway there. But again, doesn’t seem to be any concern on that front. Sounds like they think they can on both sides that they can work something out there.
Right now, the priority is Steven Stamkos. Tampa’s gonna try to make that happen.”
