Stamkos stays in Tampa; Canadian teams make risky trades on eve of free agency

Fireworks popped off across the hockey world well before Canada Day and the annual start of NHL free agency.

Steven Stamkos agreed to remain in Tampa, P.K. Subban was dealt to Nashville for Shea Weber, and Taylor Hall was finally traded from Edmonton as the Oilers sought to rectify a long-standing issue on defence.

It was, all in all, one of the more thunderous days of activity in the recent history of the NHL, starting with Stamkos.

Lining up as the NHL’s top available free agent heading into July 1, a 26-year-old who’s produced more goals than any player but Alex Ovechkin since 2008, Stamkos opted to pull himself off the market, agreeing to remain with the Lightning on an eight-year deal.

“We both wanted this to happen,” Tampa GM Steve Yzerman said. “And his willingness to work with us and say ‘Hey, I’m willing to do whatever I have to do. I want to play in Tampa, I want to win.’ Those are the things he said to me on numerous occasions and ultimately expressed that today and committed to that.”

The Markham, Ont. native could have chosen any number of NHL destinations with Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo and Montreal among the rumoured suitors. Ultimately, the former No. 1 overall pick of the Lightning opted to remain in the only NHL home he’s ever known, a place where his chances of continued success are perhaps best.

The Lightning reached their second straight Eastern Conference final this past spring and are well-positioned to remain in the Stanley Cup conversation moving forward.

Tampa’s roster is flooded with skilled, young talent, but also talent owed new contracts now or sometime soon. All of which made it imperative that Stamkos accept less than market rate, and that seems to have been accomplished with a contract that comes with a reported US$8.5 million cap hit.

The hometown discount will help the Lightning keep electric 23-year-old Nikita Kucherov and 26-year-old Alex Killorn this summer as well as Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Jonathan Drouin, Victor Hedman, and perhaps Ben Bishop next summer.

“If we can do contracts that work for both parties we can keep a deeper lineup and that’s all we’re trying to do,” Yzerman said.

While the Lightning stayed strong, two Canadian teams made risky bets.

Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin insisted that he was not shopping Subban, only to flip him to the Predators for an aging Weber less than a week later.

It’s an exchange that tilts strongly in Nashville’s favour given the age and productivity of the two defencemen.

Subban is almost four years younger than the long-time Nashville captain and tops every defender but Erik Karlsson in terms of point production over the past five seasons. Underlying numbers also suggest that Weber, soon to be 31, has hit his peak and is trending downward in recent seasons.

He still boasts an explosive shot, one that produced 20 goals last season, and sucks up huge minutes, but the player trending upward in the transaction is most certainly Subban, a supremely gifted skater and puck-mover.

Weber’s contract, additionally, doesn’t expire until 2026, carrying a $7.8 million cap hit, while Subban’s deal expires in 2022, though holding an extra $1.2 million on the cap annually.

“I’m excited. I really am excited. I think this is fantastic,” said Predators general manager David Poile, sounding almost giddy. “I’m a general manager but some day I would like to be a fan and this is a guy that I would pay money to see. He’s exciting to watch.”

Nashville’s head coach Peter Laviolette noted the game is trending toward speed and skill, avenues where Subban thrives.

He joins what was already perhaps the best defence in the league, one that just got better.

“I just feel good knowing that a team has moved someone to bring me in because they want me,” Subban said, speaking on a conference call while travelling in Paris. “They moved a great player, probably somebody that was the last player that everybody thought would be moved, but they moved a great player and their captain to bring me in.

“Obviously that shows a team that wants you.”

Like Montreal, Edmonton made a dicey deal, losing the best player of a trade that sent Hall to New Jersey for 23-year-old Adam Larsson.

It was a deal aimed toward solving a long-standing need in Oiler country: Edmonton was searching for help on defence, and according to GM Peter Chiarelli, trading Hall was the only means to finding it.

“In the last four or five months I’ve been quite public in saying we’re looking for some defencemen,” Chiarelli told reporters in Edmonton, “and we’ve pounded the pavement and this is the price that you have to pay.

“And it’s unfortunate that (it costs) a player of Taylor’s calibre, but we’re getting a really good player back.”

The Oilers are betting on the upside of Larsson, a player who’s yet to find a groove in the NHL.

The fourth overall pick of the 2011 draft, Larsson averaged a career-high of more than 22 minutes last season, starting a large majority of his shifts against top talent in the defensive zone. He produced only 18 points and struggled in the puck possession game.

It’s worth wondering, however, if he didn’t suffer from the heavy role he was cast in as well as the subpar talent around him this past season. New Jersey scored the fewest goals of any NHL team and was led on defence by Andy Greene, a solid, if overmatched 33-year-old.

Chiarelli, appearing almost sombre, noted Larsson’s size (six foot three and more than 200 pounds) and smarts and lauded his puck-moving ability and defensive play.

He’s gambling that in time Larsson can become a viable top-pairing option on defence.

“I feel very strongly about this player,” Chiarelli said. “I think he’s only scratched the surface.”

Chiarelli said his team tried to trade for a defenceman at the draft and even considered trading down from the fourth overall pick to draft one, opting to keep that selection instead when Finnish winger Jesse Puljujarvi became available.

The urgency rose from there.

Speculation has bubbled for some time that Edmonton would deal at least one core forward to find a defenceman and that ended up being Hall, still only just 24 and already among the most productive left wingers in hockey.

He’ll immediately inject a much-needed degree of firepower into the Devils attack.

“The bottom line,” Chiarelli said of the Hall trade, “is you’re going to have to pay a good price to get a good player and that’s really what happened.”