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Steven Stamkos to Nashville and Jacob Trouba to Detroit
Credit: Getty Images
The NHL draft took off yesterday and continues today.

It’s obviously a great showcase for young players, but we mustn’t forget that it’s also a gathering of all the leaders just a few days away from the opening of the autonomy market.

This opens the door to certain rumours.

One of the most important right now concerns Steven Stamkos. The Lightning captain will likely be a free agent in two days, and there’s no guarantee he’ll return to Tampa Bay.

Julien BriseBois has reportedly offered him an eight-year contract at $3 million a year, but Stamkos has refused.

Why such an annual amount? Because the key figure here is a total of $24M. The club would surely take it for granted that one day, he’d end his career on the long-term injured list…

But Stamkos would ask for about $2 million more per year, so that the $24 million total wouldn’t be spread over eight years.

All of which opens the door to the principal interested party leaving the Lightning. And under current conditions, the Nashville Predators are a club that often comes up in discussions.

We know that Detroit (original club, Steve Yzerman connection) is also interested, but Nashville is a Tampa Bay-like market. It makes sense to see TSN link the Preds to the case, then.

That said, the Wings are not to be outdone.

First of all, the word out there is that Patrick Kane is looking at his options and that Detroit, with whom he played in 2023-2024, is still a strong possibility for him.

But Yzerman also has another player in his sights: Michigan native Jacob Trouba.

At $8 million a year until 2026, he’s definitely overpaid. Could the Rangers withhold salary to send their captain to Detroit? They might. And according to the NY Post, it’s up for negotiation.

Recently, the Rangers asked the defenseman to give them his list of 15 teams he would refuse to be traded to.

That would be a very Steve Yzerman trade. After all, it seems that in recent years, he’s liked to pick up veterans who are no longer in their prime to speed up his rebuild and get his team back into the playoffs.


Overtime

– Were the Coyotes poorly managed? No, no, no

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