The Tampa Bay Lightning were among the active teams on the first day of free agency yesterday. They made many moves, including the surprising decision to let Steven Stamkos hit the market and sign with another team.
However, to replace him, general manager Julien BriseBois signed another interesting forward: Jake Guentzel.
And with the leftover money, BriseBois offered a contract extension to defenseman Victor Hedman.
Hedman, 33, signed a four-year contract valued at $8M a year.
A lot of people believe Hedman's contract extension sent a message to Stamkos.
After he couldn't reach a deal with the team who drafted him first overall in 2008, Stamkos signed a four-year contract valued at $8M a year with the Nashville Predators.
The Lightning were ready to offer that salary to Hedman, but not to Stamkos, which sends a clear message to Stamkos.
Every general managers must make tough calls from time to time, and while he got criticized for not keeping Stamkos in Tampa, Julien BriseBois did great moves to get back on the fans' good side.
Source: Hockey Patrol
Tampa Bay Lightning humiliate Stamkos with new signing
POLL | ||
JUILLET 2 | 110 ANSWERS Victor Hedman's extension in Tampa Bay sends clear message to Steven Stamkos Do you think the Tampa Bay Lightning made a mistake by signing Victor HEdman over Steven Stamkos? | ||
Yes | 40 | 36.4 % |
No | 70 | 63.6 % |
LIST OF POLLS |
G | A | PTS | ||
Taylor Hall | 3 | - | 3 | |
Brayden Point | 3 | - | 3 | |
Brock Nelson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Bryan Rust | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Pavel Zacha | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Quinn Hughes | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Carter Verhaeghe | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Erik Karlsson | - | 3 | 3 | |
Elias Lindholm | - | 3 | 3 | |
David Pastrnak | - | 3 | 3 | |
Tim Stutzle | - | 3 | 3 | |
Adam Gaudette | 2 | - | 2 | |
Dylan Holloway | 2 | - | 2 | |
Brad Marchand | 2 | - | 2 | |
Aleksander Barkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Sam Bennett | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Sean Couturier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Alex DeBrincat | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jack Drury | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Cutter Gauthier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 23 | 18 | 5 | - | 36 | |
Hurricanes | 22 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 33 | |
Wild | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 32 | |
Devils | 25 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 32 | |
Capitals | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 31 | |
Golden Knights | 23 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 31 | |
Maple Leafs | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 28 | |
Panthers | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 27 | |
Kings | 23 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 27 | |
Conference | Cumulative |