You could almost hear the collective whimper from Leaf nation as Tampa sniper Steven Stamkos re-signed with the Lightning for a very fair contract; 5 years at $7.5M per a fantastic value for this 21 year old 50 goal scorer. Well done Steve Yzerman, who continues to prove that he belongs among the elite NHL GMs after being robbed of the executive of the year award. This really is the perfect contract, and it surprised me because I was under the impression that Stamkos wanted far more money than this and that somebody just might offer it to him. Clearly no team in the NHL offered Steven Stamkos a contract greater than Tampa's best offer, so the market for Stamkos was appears to have been exaggerated with nobody willing to pay the price. Hindsight being 20/20, Buffalo should have walked away from the Vanek contract and taken the 4 1st round picks from Edmonton (which ended up being Eberle, Hall, Paajarvi, and Hopkins).
Who is the next player "destined" to become a Leaf? My source (again being a Leaf fan) is convinced that player is Zach Parise. Burke is trying to build Team USA on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bank on it. That's what my friend tells me, so I feel obliged to report it as plausible if not inevitable...
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