NHL Rumors: Will Tampa Bay Lightning Make Steven Stamkos Offer Below Market But Good Enough?

Sportsnet 590 THE FAN: Elliotte Friedman on the Jeff Marek Show on the Tampa Bay Lightning and unrestricted free agent Steven Stamkos.

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Marek: “Now John Cooper was asked about Steven Stamkos. And he said what I think we all believe that Stamkos should be here and he should be there and he should be the Tampa Bay Lightning. You believe so, I believe so. I would argue that the majority of listeners/viewers currently hold the same belief.

The problem is that none of us hold a pen. That's just Julian BriseBois. He is the one holding the pen in this one. Any idea which way the wind is blowing for Stamkos in Tampa? We started this conversation at the beginning of October, and here we are now that Tampa is out and we're going to talk.

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Friedman: “I heard, you know, listening to Cooper night, you know, I, Cooper was great. H made it sound like I meant it, I think while I don't know exactly what's going on, I'm sure you'll have a good idea what's going on. He made it sound like it didn't have to be a long conversation.

And, again, emotions. It's after the end of the season. And I don't want to speculate but he made it sound like there was a deal to be made there. And he made it sound like Lightning knows how important it is to make a deal.

As one thing based on pure hockey, Jeff, Stamkos was one of his best players in the first round. He played with determination, he played as hard as anyone. He was productive.

You know, like me, Tampa Bay without Stamkos, I don't care, how much he means to them and they care about him, they're just not a good team without Stamkos there unless they think they've got something. what you can do to make them better.

I'm just thinking and I've said this a lot, Mbani knows that's where he wants to be. They know it. They went through it one last time. He had all these big offers on the table, half the league was chasing him and he came back to Tampa, okay. They know that. They know you want to be there.

I think it will all come down to whether they will make an offer that they feel is legitimate enough. It's going to be below market I bet Jeff, but they're going to make him an offer that makes him say, 'Yeah, that's good enough. I'll take it.'

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And I think that's what the line here is going to be for Tampa, make him a below-market offer but you know, he'll take it. And I think that's what they're going to do.