If the Boston Bruins want to cause chaos this offseason while filling a major need for the team, they could go big-fish hunting in free agency and offer Steven Stamkos a contract. As unlikely as it may be to imagine Stamkos leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team he’s been with since 2008 and has captained since 2014, the reality is that his contract will expire in just over a week, making him an unrestricted free agent. If this happens, the Bruins would be smart to make an offer to the veteran forward, who would immediately present an upgrade to the team’s top-six center group.
The Bruins shocked many with their performance last season, especially after a tumultuous offseason featured many key departures and patch-work signings to fill in holes for minimum contracts. To general manager Don Sweeney’s credit, many of these signings proved to far exceed their value. This offseason, however, the Bruins may look to make a bigger splash; this is where Stamkos comes into play.
Stamkos Offers the Bruins a Short-Term No. 1 Center Option
The obvious elephant in the room is that Stamkos is 34 years old and doesn’t serve as a long-term fix for the team’s center position. It’s clear that the Bruins need long-term fixes down the middle, but those players don’t grow on trees. Even worse is the fact that the Bruins don’t have the draft capital necessary to find a premier player down the middle in the early portions of the next few Entry Drafts. This means the team will need to get crafty and ultimately a little lucky when trying to build out this premium position of need; one such way they can extend the timeline is by signing Stamkos to a deal that kicks the can down the road a little further.
Related: Bruins’ Draft History Under Don Sweeney
The right-shot centerman scored 40 goals and 81 points in 79 games last season. It’s clear that he hasn’t lost a step yet and, though he’s 34 years old, he’s still younger than the Bruins’ 36-year-old captain Brad Marchand. Relying on two players in the twilight of their careers to be focal points of the offense is a dangerous game, but it isn’t necessarily the worst decision to try and maximize Marchand’s remaining years while also bridging the cap for younger, more long-term options down the middle to blossom for the team. One such player could already be on the roster in Matt Poitras, who would learn a lot from Stamkos and could eventually blossom into a legitimate top-six option down the middle for the Bruins. Stamkos would also add championship pedigree and leadership to this Bruins team.
As it stands, the Bruins need better options in their top six than Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle, who admittedly performed admirably in their roles this season. Still, nobody should be clamoring for the Bruins to keep the status quo at center this season. Stamkos also won 56% of his faceoffs last season, though it’s worth noting that he only took 637 faceoffs all season long. This is still a large sample size, but it’s not nearly as big as Zacha’s 1,068 faceoff attempts and 54.8% win percentage, or Coyle’s 1477 faceoffs and 51.6% win rate. At the same time, moving Coyle back down to the third line could give the Bruins their best chance at improving on their sub-50% faceoff win rate as a team. Outside of John Beecher, the Bruins didn’t have another player who won over 50% of his draws last season; that’s an issue for a team that used to pride itself on starting possessions with the puck during the Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci era. Stamkos helps rectify this while also giving the Bruins better faceoff options up and down the lineup.
Will Stamkos become a free agent on July 1? It’s entirely possible. Will the veteran forward even field offers from opposing general managers? This could be where the hypothetical falls apart.
Stamkos may explore his options, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if he allows the Lightning a grace period to figure out some of their other offseason transactions before eventually signing him to a deal that makes sense for both sides. If there’s even a chance that Stamkos can become a member of the Black and Gold next season, though, then Sweeney must at least make a phone call to test the waters and see what a potential deal would entail. Locking up big-time money for the long term isn’t wise for a player in the back portion of his career. At the same time, though, the cost of doing business in the NHL is steep and Sweeney may need to compromise to get a deal in place; how much wiggle room he would be comfortable offering, though, is anybody’s guess. And to be fair, Stamkos is certainly worth the gamble; especially if it also means the Bruins would weaken the division-rival Lightning in the process. For every reason the Bruins would want to sign Stamkos, though, is also why the Lightning wouldn’t want to let him leave.
The Bruins have a lot of decision to make this offseason, but Stamkos is a player worth taking a shot on if he also has mutual interest. He’d quickly become the priority.
