Montreal Canadiens: Three High Scoring UFAs Habs Habs Realistic Chance Of Signing
Steven Stamkos
Steven Stamkos has already spoken publicly about the lack of communication between the Tampa Bay Lightning and his camp on a contract extension. He expressed his bewilderment just before the season began as he has been eligible to sign an extension that would kick in next season since July 1.
The team seems to want to wait it out and see how the year goes, but what else does Stamkos have to do to prove he is worthy of a contract? He had 34 goals and 84 points in 81 games last season and reached 100 points for the first time in his career the year before that.
He is a veteran of over 1000 regular season games and has scored 500 goals and 1000 points, all with the Lightning since being picked first overall in the 2008 NHL Draft. If that isn’t enough to prove he is worth keeping, he has burst out of the gates this season with seven goals and 20 points in 17 games.
But, if his team doesn’t want to keep him, he will hit the open market next summer. Why exactly would he choose the Canadiens when he would surely have plenty of options? Well, when Stamkos arrived in the NHL a star winger named Martin St. Louis was the leader of the Lightning and would have taken Stamkos under his wing and helped him become a pro.
The two were longtime linemates and played regularly together until St. Louis was traded in 2014. Stamkos blossomed into a star goal scorer with St. Louis feeding him passes. With St. Louis now behind the Canadiens bench, they could rekindle their mentor-protege partnership with St. Louis in a new role.
Also, what would be better for Cole Caufield’s career than learning the ropes on scoring goals from Steven Stamkos? Also, as a former first overall pick who was kind of buried for a little while as a rookie, Stamkos would have invaluable advice for Juraj Slafkovsky as well.
On a team desperate for goals, adding Stamkos to the top six to play with Suzuki and Caufield or even on a line with Kirby Dach and Slafkovsky would leapfrog the Habs way ahead in their path to becoming contenders.
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