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7 Trade Landing Spots for Steven Stamkos Amid NHL Rumors
It hasn't been a bad start to the season for the Nashville Predators, but they're not setting anyone's hair on fire either, and that's getting everyone to pay close attention to what could happen with Steven Stamkos.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts podcast recently that if things take a downward turn in Nashville, it could create a situation where both the team and Stamkos could have a long talk to discuss a trade elsewhere.
While the Predators haven't been that bad, the 35-year-old is off to a slow start with two points in the first 14 games.
Still, Stamkos put up 27 goals last season during Nashville's brutal fall in the league standings, and his history as a big-time performer makes him the perfect player to acquire in a change-of-scenery deal for a contending team that could use a star player with pedigree.
We're going to examine a few teams that have come up in rumors and pitch a few of our own ideas for potential future locations for Stamkos. He's a Stanley Cup champion and was captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning for many seasons. Teams would love to have him if Nashville is looking to change things up.
Vancouver Canucks
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The Canucks are a seriously hurting bunch. They're playing without Filip Chytil and Conor Garland among a few others, yet they're still playing tough hockey. Even though they're just ahead of Nashville in the standings, that's apparently not stopping them from asking about Stamkos' availability.
Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie & Dhali (h/t The Hockey News) said the team is poking around on Stamkos to help them out, and while they could use any kind of experienced help, aiming high for such a veteran makes a lot of sense.
His experience and offensive ability would help deepen their forward group when others return from injury, and he'd provide a player who knows how to win and has gone deep to a group that lacks it.
Vancouver is hurting terribly at center, and although Stamkos is more of a winger these days, that experience could come into play again.
The big issue here would be money. Vancouver is already heavily against the cap and has used LTIR to keep things steady. Figuring out the right package to balance the money and not hurt its depth to add Stamkos would be tricky.
Carolina Hurricanes
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Adding Stamkos to the Hurricanes roster would be a fascinating move. Carolina has plenty of cap space to work with, and it's always looking to improve the roster even if it already looks strong enough to contend.
Stamkos would be an expensive addition to the roster, but they've got the assets to pull off a trade relatively easily with picks, prospects or ways to make the money balance out.
The trick here would be where to fit Stamkos into their lineup. The lines are squared up well and the roles seem clear. If having him as part of a third or fourth line to create mismatches against other teams' depth lines is the way, then that might just work out.
Given how Carolina thrives by pumping shots on net, adding a legendary shooter would seem like a natural match.
Los Angeles Kings
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If going to Nashville isn't going to work out for Stamkos, then perhaps Hollywood would do the trick.
The Kings have struggled to find the back of the net early on this season, and while Stamkos has had the same issue, adding him to the Kings' lineup could be the kind of move that helps him break out of his slump.
Putting him on the wing with the likes of Anze Kopitar, Quinton Byfield or Philip Danault would be an upgrade for Stamkos, and L.A. could stand to add a shooter.
Los Angeles has its fair share of veterans in the lineup, but it has done well to integrate its younger players in recent seasons. Now, it's in the spot where it needs to get out of the first round of the playoffs and to shake free of the pack out West.
Stamkos would be a luxury addition for the Kings, but he'd also provide the kind of veteran certainty teams look for when the games get tighter and tougher later in the season and the playoffs, and that's something they've lacked in the postseason against the Oilers all these years.
Toronto Maple Leafs
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Attaching the Maple Leafs and Stamkos is something that seems a natural thing to do. But Toronto could actually stand to use him.
The Leafs have been mostly uninspiring this season (though that may have changed after their comeback win against Pittsburgh on Monday), and bringing in another local hero would be the kind of move that would juice things up.
They're still an exciting team with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares, but they're lacking a lot of offensive punch this season.
Bringing Stamkos to Toronto, even at age 35, would create the kind of buzz the team has lacked this year and would add a true shooter to its group.
Even though he's not the same kind of player the Leafs wanted to pursue in free agency before he returned to Tampa Bay, he'd provide an element to their roster that they lack.
Anaheim Ducks
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The Ducks have come flying out of the gate this season, and the growth they started showing last season has so far allowed them to mature even further this year.
Just a month in, they have the look of a team that could push for the playoffs and be really frustrating to deal with there. Adding Stamkos could be the kind of thing that locks it in.
Consider what Anaheim has to work with. It's got a coach who has won multiple Stanley Cups, a group of young players that's starting to drive all of the play in Leo Carlsson, Jackson LaCombe, Cutter Gauthier, and Mason McTavish. It's also got loads of veterans like Chris Kreider, Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba, and Stamkos' former Lightning teammate, Alex Killorn.
The Ducks are also going to be without Mikael Granlund week-to-week with a lower-body injury, and their depth beyond everyone mentioned gets thin quickly.
Solidifying the lineup with a veteran star like Stamkos would be bold, but it's also the kind of play that could send Anaheim soaring even higher.
Montréal Canadiens
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We're going for a stretch here with this idea to send Stamkos to the Montréal Canadiens, but mostly we're building it around the notion that if the Habs wanted to best solidify their lineup and be insured against injury mayhem, reuniting him with former Lightning teammate and Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis would be an incredible story.
The Habs are without Patrik Laine, a dynamic shooter and power-play weapon, and have dealt with countless injuries to key players throughout the lineup over the years. Dealing with those issues when you're not a playoff contender is one thing, but the Canadiens are very much part of that discussion.
Bringing Stamkos in would be an exciting fit. One of the problems with this idea is that they don't really need to add him at all and acquiring an insurance policy that expensive is something no one really does because of the salary cap.
However, if Laine is to miss more time or Kirby Dach can't stay healthy, making a play for Stamkos would be a lot of fun.
Florida Panthers
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Sometimes you want to come up with an idea that will be more of a shock to the system than anything and seeing Steven Stamkos in a Florida Panthers uniform would more than qualify, but if you think about it hard enough, it's the kind of idea that just makes sense.
The Panthers' injuries to Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov help inspire this idea, of course, and although Tkachuk will ideally be back before the Olympics, Barkov's absence will be a bit longer than that. Even though they've played without those two all year, it hasn't exactly sunk their season. Far from it, in fact, which makes the idea of adding Stamkos something out of the "evil genius" realm.
After all, this is the same team that added team captains from division rivals the past two years at the deadline that helped them win the Stanley Cup (Kyle Okposo, Brad Marchand) and it would only be natural if they added Stamkos, the former captain of their most bitter rival, to make a run at a three-peat.
Yeah, it doesn't really work out well when it comes to the money and finding a way to balance it out would be really difficult, but sometimes you want to see the world burn if even for a second.
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