Perhaps it's the sting of a Stanley Cup Final loss or a lack of real urgency, but the Tampa Bay Lightning and captain Steven Stamkos have yet to discuss a long-term contract extension.
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Stamkos is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season and will make $5.5 million in the 2015-16 campaign, but the Lightning surely want to lock him up before he hits the open market next summer.
I don't think we have any criteria on timing, at this point in time," Stamkos' agent Don Meehan told TSN. "I've mentioned to [Lightning general manager] Steve Yzerman that we're going to have a meeting with Steven, and then once we've had the meeting with Steven then I can go back to Steve."
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He continued: "So he understands that and understands that Steven is just in the process of coming back home (to Toronto) and getting acclimatized here and getting into his training, and he understands the time frame in that respect."
Stamkos finished second in the league last season with 43 goals and tied for the club lead with 72 points. The Lightning captain also paced the team with 13 power play goals and 25 points on the man advantage while tying for first on Tampa Bay with six game-winning goals.
The young center was a huge reason the Lightning finished in second place in the Atlantic Division and went to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since winning it all in 2004.
Though he had some lengthy goal-scoring droughts and didn't light the lamp at all in his first taste of the Stanley Cup Final, Stamkos still had respectable numbers in the playoffs, notching seven markers and 11 helpers in 23 games.
The Lightning overcame the Detroit Red Wings in seven games, topped the Montreal Canadiens in six matches and then ousted the New York Rangers by handing them their first Game 7 home-ice loss in franchise history in the Eastern Conference Final.
Tampa Bay then fell to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games to give the Windy City its third Cup in six years.
After the defeat, Yzerman made it clear that locking down Stamkos was his top mission.
"We've got some other restricted free agents and other contracts we have to do, but that's the No. 1 priority," Yzerman said on June 17, according to NHL.com.
Stamkos also said he wanted to stay in the organization and was confident everything would work out eventually.
"That stuff is going to take care of itself," Stamkos told the Tampa Bay Times on June 23. "It's a bigger story now that we went so deep and that everyone is expecting news right away. We literally just finished the toughest hockey we've played in our careers. We're going to relax a little bit. I'm going to go home this week, talk to who I need to talk to and go from there. I'm not losing any sleep over it."
Stamkos, 25, was selected first overall by the Lightning in the 2008 NHL Draft and has 276 goals, 222 assists and 498 points in 492 regular season games and is 15-20--35 in 48 postseason matches.
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