Julien BriseBois “very confident” of signing Steven Stamkos

The Steven Stamkos file is getting a lot of attention in Tampa Bay… and in the NHL in general. After all, even if everyone knows the player wants to return to the Lightning, there’s a world out there where that doesn’t happen.

And that would be the talk of the town. After all, he’d be in demand.

Of course, seeing Stamkos in another uniform would be special. However, if Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St-Louis ended their careers in other colors… anything’s possible.

The subject is hot right now because of the Lightning’s elimination. But in reality, what it will take is a good round of discussions between Julien BriseBois and the captain’s agent.

Stamkos, who wants to stay, says he’s “excited” about the upcoming discussions.

From what we understand, it’s going to come down to this: can the Lightning come up with an amount that won’t destroy the organization’s (fragile) salary balance… without insulting it with an offer that’s too low?

As Elliotte Friedman pointed out on his podcast this morning, that’s where the debate lies.

For what it’s worth, DG BriseBois said he was “very confident” of finding common ground with his captain, who has been excellent for several weeks.

The Quebec GM also claims to have had discussions with Stamkos and his agent since the Lightning’s elimination. But deep down, we sense that he doesn’t want to “fall in love” with his player.

It should be noted that another player is attracting a lot of attention in Tampa Bay: Jon Cooper.

However, it should be noted that although it was thought that he only had one year left on his contract, it would appear that in reality, he has two. BriseBois said he had some term left on his contract… and according to David Pagnotta, he still has two years left on his contract.

In his podcast of the day, aired before he knew this, Elliotte Friedman said that teams might wait to hire a coach until Mike Sullivan or Jon Cooper were available.

Remove Cooper’s name, then.

In brief

– Victor Hedman is a year away from independence.

– Hard to understand.

– Very sad, all that.

– Interesting.

– Ouch.