Tampa Bay Lightning

Steven Stamkos is a Tampa Bay Lightning legend, but he is "disappointed" the only NHL team he has ever known did not engage in contract discussions ahead of the final season on his current deal.

"I've been disappointed in the lack of talking," the center told reporters. "It was something that I expressed at the end of last year that I wanted to get something done before training camp started. There haven't been any conversations."

Stamkos will turn 34 years old in February and may no longer be at his playing peak, but he is still a franchise icon who has been productive in recent seasons.

It is somewhat surprising to see his status in limbo with the 2023-24 campaign approaching, but he did add that he is "ready whenever" the team wants to talk about his next contract and willing to have those discussions during the season.

Tampa Bay selected him with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2008 NHL entry draft, and he has more than lived up to the sky-high expectations that came with such a selection.

His resume includes two Stanley Cup titles, two Maurice Richard Trophies as the league's top goal scorer, a Mark Messier Leadership Award and seven All-Star Game selections. His most recent All-Star Game came in 2021-22 when he posted a career-best 106 points on 42 goals and 64 assists.

Stamkos then followed that effort up with 84 points on 34 goals and 50 assists last season.

Those two most recent campaigns indicate he is far from done when it comes to being a productive offensive force. His presence is a major reason the Lightning are coming off six consecutive playoff appearances during a stretch that includes two Stanley Cup titles and three appearances in the Stanley Cup Final.

Stamkos is arguably the best player in franchise history, and it is difficult to envision him in another uniform.

But that may become a reality if Tampa Bay does not engage him in contract discussions ahead of next offseason.

Ahead of his second full season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Brandon Hagel has signed a long-term contract extension with the club.

The Lightning announced on Tuesday that Hagel's new deal is for eight years and $52 million ($6.5 million annually) after he racked up a career-high 64 points last season.

The Lighting acquired Hagel from the Chicago Blackhawks in a March 2022 trade. The deal has worked out great for Tampa Bay.

Hagel had six points in 23 games during the 2022 playoffs to help the Lightning reach the Stanley Cup Final. They were defeated by the Colorado Avalanche in six games in the series.

Last season was a breakout for Hagel. The 24-year-old tied for third on the Lighting with 30 goals, tied for fourth with 64 points and ranked seventh with 34 assists. He also set a career-high with 81 games played.

The Lightning made the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year, but they were eliminated in the first round by the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the first time in three years they didn't make it to the Stanley Cup Final.

Hagel's $52 million total salary and $6.5 million average annual salary both rank seventh among current Lightning players. He was set to become a restricted free agent next summer, but will now be under contract through the 2031-32 season.

The Buffalo Sabres originally selected Hagel with the 159th overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft. The two sides were unable to agree to terms on a contract and relinquished his rights prior to the 2018 draft.

The Blackhawks signed Hagel to a three-year entry-level contract in November 2018. He played two seasons with the Rockford IceHogs, Chicago's AHL affiliate, before making his NHL debut in March 2020.

Hagel scored 24 points in 52 games during his first full season with Chicago in 2020-21.

Arctos Sports Partners is planning to purchase a minority stake in the Tampa Bay Lightning that would value the franchise at $1.4 billion, according to Sportico's Scott Soshnick and Kurt Badenhausen.

That valuation would set a record for an NHL team, a mark that hasn't been topped since the Toronto Maple Leafs were sold to Rogers and Bell Canada for a little more than $1 billion in December 2011.

Arctos first became a minority investor in the Lightning in January 2022, taking advantage of a new rule that allowed private equity firms to buy into NHL teams. Soshnick and Badenhausen noted how the new agreement is subject to new scrutiny by the league:

The Arctos deal, which still needs to be approved by the NHL, required a special waiver from the league, as it exceeds the ownership cap rules for private equity. The NHL's PE policy allows funds to buy non-voting minority stakes in a maximum of five different teams (same as the NBA, and one more than MLS.) The maximum that a single fund can own in an NHL team is 20%, and no franchise can have more than 30% of its equity owned by investment funds.

Arctos maintains a sizable sports portfolio, with the Lightning one of four different NHL teams in which the firm has placed its money. It purchased a stake in the Minnesota Wild at the same time it bought into Tampa Bay, while it has an interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils after having aligned with those franchises' respective ownership groups.

Regardless of whether this deal goes through, one thing is abundantly clear: Chairman Jeff Vinik will profit massively in the event he completely cashes out.

Vinik spent around $110 million to purchase the Lightning in 2010. Since then, the team has lifted the Stanley Cup twice and been a consistent box-office draw. Now, Tampa Bay is a billion dollar organization.

TORONTO – It wasn't supposed to go this way for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but then again, it never seems to go the way it's intended to.

The Leafs entered Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 3-1 series lead and the opportunity to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2004.

It was a home game, too, with a raucous and excited-to-celebrate crowd on hand. The plaza full of fans outside of Scotiabank Arena was ready to explode in joy.

The only thing standing in the way of a city-wide party was a Lightning team that's been to the Stanley Cup Final three straight years. That fact alone was reason for caution, and sure enough the Lightning took Game 5 4-2 to force a Game 6 in Tampa on Saturday.

As ominous as those facts read, hindsight and history made it seem like it was a foregone conclusion that the Lightning would come away with the win. But after the Maple Leafs had two straight come-from-behind wins in Games 3 and 4 in Tampa, it was starting to feel a bit like destiny.

But championship teams don't go away that easily.

"We still have so far to go, but to come into this environment—and it was a phenomenal environment—and then play the way we did, it's just as I said a couple of days ago, we're going back to the rink and that's exciting for us," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

The jovial atmosphere exploded briefly in the first period when Morgan Rielly gave Toronto a 1-0 lead 5:46 into the first period. The arena was deafening with cheers from the Leafs faithful, but before they were able to announce Rielly's goal, Anthony Cirelli tied it up 26 seconds later.

A road-team goal is always going to suck the air out of the arena. Cirelli's goal at that moment, however, changed the pace of the game. The Leafs were staggered, and the Lightning used that tying goal to turn the game on the home team, maintaining possession in their zone and generating shots. It was the perfect road game performance. What also helps is having a battle-tested, award-winning goaltender show you what he's capable of doing.

Even though Rielly's wicked shot in the first period eluded Andrei Vasilevskiy, he shut things down from that point on until deep into the third period. Vasilevskiy made 28 saves, only letting a late goal to Auston Matthews through after the Leafs pulled Ilya Samsonov for the extra attacker.

Vasilevskiy came up with pucks, read shots like a book he's read 100 times before, and anticipated plays well. He's won a Vezina, a pair of Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe. Taking a win-or-see-you-next-season Game 5 on the road in that kind of atmosphere is just second nature at this point.

"Big-time saves, he just makes them," Lightning forward Nick Paul said. "He's not scared about it, he's not shy. If he needs to do a slick little windmill glove save, he'll do it. He's unbelievable. He's the best goalie in the league and he showed that tonight."

No situation made Paul's opinion correct like Vasilevskiy's blocker save against Mitch Marner on a third-period breakaway with the Lightning holding onto a 2-1 lead. He stood tall and knocked the shot away with the kind of confidence you'd expect from an accomplished netminder, even after he's had his skills questioned during this series.

As fated as the outcome may have seemed, it's not as if it came easily. The Lightning have dealt with injuries to defensemen Victor Hedman and Erik Cernak. Forward Tanner Jeannot missed Game 5 and was replaced by Michael Eyssimont. All he did was jump into the action and put up a goal and an assist. When a player goes down, it's down to the next man up to take care of business. Eyssimont did more than just seize the day, he skated away with it.

"It was an extremely big moment, and you can't ask for more than that," Cooper said of the 26-year-old Eyssimont's performance. "In the end, he gave us what we needed, and when you play in these playoff series, you don't go through a playoff series just by the same 20 guys. You need to have depth in an organization, that everybody has to play a part in and everybody that's played games for us in these first five games, they played a big part."

Had the Lightning not blown third-period leads in the past two games, they'd be preparing for the second round and a date with either Boston or Florida. That's not to say the Maple Leafs didn't have a big hand in that. They're a very good team, too, and more than capable of finishing this series off in Game 6.

But it's an elimination game Toronto came up short in yet again, and even now with a 3-2 lead in the series, old memories never go away. It's up to the players to show they're not haunted.

Vanquishing a championship-caliber team is never an easy task, even less so when they're defending their conference crown. If nothing else, Game 5 reminded everyone of who they can be again and that one win doesn't change everything.

"We've had this experience, our most recent playoff series, very similar circumstances," Cooper said. "We went into Colorado in an unbelievable environment with the Stanley Cup on the line, not just the first round, and we found a way to win, but we didn't try to win the next one.

"You have to learn from those moments and how to not look at Game 7. Game 7 is irrelevant, Game 6 is all that matters and it's about just winning one game, and shame on us if we think we're going to go home and that's going to be the difference for us. It's urgency and effort. That'll be the difference. We need to bring that to Game 6."

Tampa Bay Lightning winger Pat Maroon is donating $2,000 to a Tampa-based mental health and substance use nonprofit organization in the name of Jack Edwards after the NESN broadcaster made critical comments about Maroon's weight during a broadcast Tuesday.

"Listed at 238 pounds...that was day one of training camp," Edwards said of Maroon during the Lightning's game against the Boston Bruins. "I've got a feeling he's had a few more pizzas between then and now. ... Inadvertent fasting for Pat Maroon is like four hours without a meal."

Edwards has been calling Bruins games for NESN since 2005. While his work has largely been well-received, his tenure has seen some controversy.

In 2013, Edwards apologized for comparing then-Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke to Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. In 2019, he said it was "bad hockey karma" when then-Dallas Stars defenseman Roman Polak was stretchered off the ice with an injury.

Edwards has not addressed his comments about Maroon, and NESN is also yet to make a statement.