Unless an enourmous offer comes your way, Stamkos should stick around in Smashville and continue to build his new legacy post -Tampa Bay
Read that subheading again, because it means a lot. A lot has changed just in the last month and a half when Stamkos' stock was in the garbage despite what he had done to build a future Hall of Fame career.
I didn't ever jump on that bandwagon of dumping on Stamkos, but I was critical in the sense of possibly looking to unload him to a playoff contender as the Predators appeared doomed to be heading towards another last place season.
There are still a lot of games left and the Predators could faceplant badly and fall right back towards the bottom of the standings again, but as we sit right now, Stamkos is a guy that you don't just "unload" ust for the sake of moving on. Maybe you could've argued that two months ago, but not now. Not after seeing the chemistry that is being built with him here.
The difference is this isn't some disgruntled veteran who wants out and is not producing. A disgruntled veteran who is a negative impact on the locker room, and more importantly your younger players. Quite the opposite, actually. Stamkos is vital to this new transition into the youth.
There is no need to rush to unload Stamkos right now unless some whacky GM comes along and offers to take on the full remaining salary of Stamkos, high end draft compensation and/or a high end younger NHL player.
Nashville wants to get younger, so if an NHL team is willing to offer a younger and proven NHL talent along with full salary retention, then I'll listen. I just don't see that happening, and I'm fine with that. Trotz should not be in the business right now of retaining more salary. Stamkos offers you way too much on and off the ice to be unloading him for retained salary.
Paying a future Hall of Famer to not play for you is just unfathomable to me and I hope Trotz agrees.