Tampa Bay Lightning: Unsigned Steven Stamkos Could Be Fatal Franchise Flaw

Hockey in the Sunshine state is a hard sell. Floridians are more prone to college football, beaches and the local AARP deal of the month than they are to pucks, off sides and painted sheets of ice.

I mean no disrespect to the great hockey fans of Florida. There just are not a lot of them. In fact, you will find one of the best right here on the Bleacher Report, in Bolts featured columnist JC De La Torre.

The fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning have failed to lock up their franchise player, Steven Stamkos, is not a good sign for the few die-hard hockey fans in Florida.

Teams are allowed to sign their restricted free agent one year before their entry-level deal expires and the Bolts failed to do so with Stamkos. Granted, circumstances were not in the Bolts favor, there was new ownership and everything was going to be overhauled.

However, should Stamkos land elsewhere, the ramifications could ultimately turn out to be another team relocating back to Canada. If ever there was an unstable market for hockey, Florida is it.

It would not take a major issue for fans to stay away from attending hockey games in Tampa.

After winning the Stanley Cup in 2004, the Lightning were as high as the second ranked team in the NHL in home attendance. Since then, they have fallen as low as 21st out of 30 teams. They managed to finish 18^th this past season but losing Stamkos would make 18^th place look like a top five number to the Bolts front office.

Not getting Stamkos back in a Lightning jersey would qualify as major and could be the start of something bad. I live on the east coast of Florida, in Melbourne. While there are very few hockey jerseys worn here, the ones that are proudly displayed have one name, No.91 Stamkos on the back of them

Stamkos, along with players such as Martin St.Louis and Vincent Lecavalier led the Lightning to the Eastern Conference finals this past season. Stamkos, who is just 21-years old, had a league-best 96 goals the past two seasons, including 45 this season.

The Bolts failure to sign Stamkos earlier in this process will cost them dearly in terms of dollars and possibly, in the way they are perceived to handle top-notch players.

The Capitals and Penguins wasted no time with Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby once their entry-level deals expired, and Tampa Bay should have followed suit.

Crosby signed at the time, a five-year deal worth $43.5 million ($8.7 million annual salary cap hit). His contract expires after the 2012-13 season. Ovechkin went the long-term route. The Great 8 signed a 13 year, $124 million ($9.54 million annual salary cap hit) contract, which expires after the 2020-21 season.

The 2008 No.1 overall pick is expected to command up to $7 million per season. This is a significant raise from the expired three-year, entry-level contract that paid a base salary of $875,000.

Stamkos is more than likely to sign a deal similar to that of Crosby's as opposed to the one Ovechkin signed but he has not yet. Rumors are surfacing in real hockey cities like Philadelphia that Stamkos could be headed elsewhere.

Yahoo sports reports that while the Bolts and Stamkos are close to a deal, a trade with the Flyers has also been talked about.

According to published reports, "sources have suggested to CSN-Philly that the Lightning would be interested in acquiring Brayden Schenn, Sergei Bobrovsky and a future No. 1 draft pick in exchange for Stamkos. Though Holmgren expects Stamkos will eventually re-sign with the Bolts, there are indications he is prepared to make a trade offer if it doesn't happen."

While something like that is never going to happen the fact that it is even being discussed is ridiculous.

Former Detroit Red Wing great and current Lightning GM Steve Yzerman has made all of the right moves and if grades were to be administered, Yzerman would receive an A+ for his efforts in Tampa since taking over last summer.

Yzerman signed Guy Boucher, who is perhaps the best young coach in the league. He took a chance on Dwayne Roloson on New Year’s Day in a trade with the Islanders. He has done many good things in Tampa and proven to be a big time NHL GM.

He has done Ok this off-season but the prospective deal for Stamkos has possibly cost him back-up goalie Mike Smith, Sean Bergenheim and Simeon Gagne. Yes, Bolts fans, the resigning of Stamkos will be worth it but it must be done soon.

Stevie”Y” did get Dwayne Roloson and defenseman Eric Brewer resigned. He also inked former Rangers defenseman Matt Gilroy and he's added depth by signing some minor league role players.

Yzerman strikes me as the Billy Beane of hockey. No, owner Jeff Vinik is not cheap and Yzerman does not have to play with numbers to find players but he’s a young GM and cocky. He has a way of getting what he needs for his team and says a lot of nothing when he does it.

Yzerman is a winner and because of him, the Lightning will be too.

However, there is a time to posture as a GM and a time to swallow your macho hockey pride and pay the money. Stamkos' contract is a time to pay. I know that Stamkos and his agent chose this route but Yzerman and the Bolts should have presented Stamkos with an offer that simply left him no choice but to sign the deal.

If offer sheets begin to come in, the Lightning could be forced to match at more than 20 percent more than they would have paid for him had they just anteed up at the start.

A little devil’s advocate here and no offense meant to Stevie Y, but you are not in Detroit anymore. High priced talent or your own star players will not just sign on the dotted line to play in "Sunshine town.” The only sea creatures that will be thrown in Tampa will be rotten fish from the Gulf of Mexico, at Yzerman, if Stamkos is not locked up.

Everything Yzerman and new owner Jeff Vinik have done over the past year will be washed out into the Gulf if Stevie "S" ends up elsewhere.

Tampa's owner Jeff Vinik has dumped a lot of money into this organization. He also deserves an A+ for being as good a rookie owner as Yzerman has been a general manager. By his own admission, Vinik leaves the hockey side to his hockey people.

However, Vinik is a tremendous hockey fan who watched all 82 regular season games this past season, and attended 55 personally.

Since taking over last year, Vinik has dumped a lot of money into the Bolts. He put $35 million of his own money into renovating the St.Pete Times Forum and spent money to revamp the Bolts minor league system.

The Bolts completely overhauled the Norfolk Admirals dressing room and workout facilities. They provided more cash to an underfunded scouting department. Money even trickled down to the Lightning’s ECHL team, the Everblades, which play in Estero, Florida. 

Vinik, a man who made his money in hedge funds paid cold hard cash for is team and has proven in just one year to be the type of owner every team wants and most need, no matter the sport. Vinik along with Yzerman introduced all of these changes including their new uniforms for the upcoming season at a press conference back in February.

The organization asked the fans of Tampa if they would join them in this rebuilding project and go "All In.” Up to this point, every aspect of the Bolts organization has been “All In” and they have done it with class.

There is a bit of irony in asking fans to go "All In" when you may be holding back money during the negotiations with Stamkos.

Vinik has placed all of his chips firmly into the center of the table during the past year and it is a good bet that he will win the pot. Stamkos will sign and the Bolts will be a good hockey team.

What can’t be forgotten is the average temperature in most of Florida is about 75 degrees every day, all year. The sun shines well over 300 days a year meaning, a town like Tampa is not the place to play with hockey fans hearts, they are not very big to begin with.

However, if for some reason the Steven Stamkos negotiations go awry, Vinik may find himself having to fold, eventually having to play his game somewhere else. Ask the hockey fans in Atlanta if this statement holds true.