Steven Stamkos elects to re-sign with Lightning

National Hockey League free agency rarely includes the signing of stars.

“If I didn’t want to be in Tampa”, Stamkos said, “I wouldn’t be in Tampa”.

Instead, he chose to stay with the team that made him the No. 1 pick in the 2008 draft.

If Stamkos’ $8.5 million cap hit established Wednesday sets the bar, it’s good news for not only Lucic, Eriksson and Okposo but the next level of free agents.

Stamkos was cognizant of the Lightning’s salary cap crunch, saying it was a factor in him re-signing for potentially less than what he could have gotten on the open market. “We’re a close group”, he said.

His signing not only helps the Lightning relax about not having one of their best players entering a walk year, but it also opens things up to other free agents interested in finding a winning situation to join the team. It’s big decisions for both of us.

Stamkos declined to get into specifics about what teams courted him or their pitches, maintaining the privacy his agents at Newport Sports and Yzerman used all season for the negotiations, a tactic that kept everyone guessing about their status. “Very important parts of our franchise and good guys to represent us”. So I’ll have to make a decision on that in the future.

His comments echo those of Stamkos on Thursday.

“I have an idea in mind of what I want to do, and I don’t want to share that with you”, Yzerman said. That says a lot about the type of guy he is, the leader he is on the team. “It’s going to come down to numbers and with the cap and everything it’s tough to keep the team together. That was a big goal that we have, is to go all the way together with Tampa”.

The sacrifice here is clearly salary. If something that makes sense happens a day from now, a month from now, at the trade deadline, we’ll look at it, and we’re prepared, if need be.

Sanity – or some modest version of sanity – was restored a little past year, partly because the salary cap was no longer going up in leaps and bounds; but mostly because the free-agent crop frankly wasn’t so great. That contact was for six years and $36 million.

Russian forward Alexander Radulov, 29, a skilled forward with a checkered history in Nashville in 2006-07, 2007-09 and 2011-12, returned from the KHL to sign a one-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens. Hedman saw that play out and avoids creating that film’s sequel by getting a deal done now.

The team announced the extension, which will kick in at the start of the 2017-18 season, will pay Hedman on average $7.875 million annually.

Alex Killorn, Vladislav Namestnikov and Nikita Kucherov, all restricted free agents, require new deals and will command raises. It’s no small thing for Yzerman to work out, and there will nearly certainly be cap casualties.

“I am excited to move forward with the Lightning today for the next eight years”, he said. Hedman said it with his actions, but he reiterated it on the call in case it wasn’t clear.

“I think as you go along in your career, you realize you’re never going to totally agree on everything – whether that’s with teammates or coaching staffs or management or your siblings in life”, he said.