On the Tampa Bay Lightning …
Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times: Jonathan Drouin has indicated that his trade request is no longer on the table and he hopes to remain with the Lightning long-term.
“I definitley want to be here,” Drouin said. “I love the way this ended, I guess with this different and weird year. But the way this finished and it’s definitely somewhere I want to play.”
Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Lightning: Lightning GM Steve Yzerman has some really critical decisions to make this summer and next. There is the Steven Stamkos situation and Nikita Kucherov needs a new deal this offseason. Victor Hedman, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat have one year left on their deals. Ben Bishop will also be a UFA after next season, unless they trade him – or they trade Andrei Vasilevskiy. There is also the expansion draft that could take place.
“The next two summers will kind of define our team the next seven or eight years,” Yzerman said Friday. “I have an idea of what we want to do. And we’re doing our best to get everyone to buy in to what we’re trying to do and keep it together.”
Hedman’s agent said they are willing to wait for the Lightning to sort out all the other contracts and doesn’t expect them to drag out the entire season.
Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times: Steven Stamkos once again said that he wants to remain with the Lightning long-term and hopes they can get a deal done.
“I hope to be back,” Stamkos said. “We have some unfinished business. This group has been unbelievable, this city has been unbelievable to me.”
The Lightning have maintained they want to re-sign Stamkos. Reports from earlier this season had Stamkos turning down an eight-year, $8.5 million per season deal.
“It’s not as easy as everyone thinks it is,” Stamkos said. “There are certain cases where it works out right away, and certain cases where it takes a little longer. Until you actually go through it and live through it and nkow both sides of the spectrum where people are coming from, there’s a lot of work to be done.
“It’s not something that on both sides can be taken lightly. It’s a big decision for an organization, it’s a big decision for a player. The more time you take, just like the decision I made to come back and play, that took a long time too. There’s a lot of things you have to check off before you’re comfortable in making any decision. In any decision I’ve ever made in my life, especially as a professional athlete, it’s not one that’s made quickly or just for the hell of it. There’s a lot of thought that’s put into it.”