Written by Chris Peters at CBSsports.com
The countdown clock to the NHL trade deadline is counting down rather quickly as we’re now less than two weeks away. Things should start moving faster on the market as well, but one general manager very publicly pumped the brakes on one potential trade asset.
Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman said in a statement that captain and pending free agent Steven Stamkos wasn’t going anywhere. It was an important move for the team as speculation continued to run rampant that a deal was at least possible at this point. Losing Stamkos for nothing — if he signed elsewhere as a free agent — is no doubt the worst-case scenario for the team, but Yzerman appears willing to risk it.
Stamkos has said many times that he’d like to stay in Tampa and there’s no doubt the team wants to sign one of the league’s best goal scorers to a long-term deal. It hasn’t come together as quickly as anyone would have liked it to, though. Now a trade is most definitely off the table and Bolts fans can breathe easy for now.
Just because Stamkos is off the table, doesn’t mean the Lightning are going to sit out the trade deadline, though. They still have forward Jonathan Drouin as an option to ship out.
The 21-year-old remains on the sidelines as he is suspended without pay for failure to report to Tampa’s AHL team. As the deadline approaches, Drouin may be sweating a bit, while other GMs out there have to weigh if it is worth taking him on at this stage of the season. Yzerman won’t just trade him for anything. The former No. 3 pick still has value and the Lightning GM should be doing everything to squeeze all he can out of that.
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