Steven Stamkos signed a four-year contract with the Nashville Predators, the center told TSN on Monday. It reportedly has an average annual value of $8 million.
The 34-year-old forward had 81 points (40 goals, 41 assists) in 79 regular-season games for the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, and had 28 points (16 goals, 12 assists) in the final 18 games after the NHL Trade Deadline on March 8 to help Tampa Bay earn the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Stamkos then led Tampa Bay with five goals in the first-round series against the Florida Panthers, which the Lightning lost in five games.
“You always think that something’s going to work out but this morning when I woke up, we knew we were going to make a decision to be somewhere else and that was exciting for my wife and I and our kids and family,” Stamkos TSN. “And like I said, just to have a team show as much interest as Nashville did with how excited they were with the possibility of me coming.
“It just made us feel really special and really good. It made that decision that much easier.”
Stamkos was not the only former Stanley Cup champion joining the Predators on Monday. Jonathan Marchessault, who won the Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2022-23, told TSN he is also going to the Predators.
“Nashville was the best fit for me,” the 34-year-old told on TSN. “I’m at the point in my career when I don’t just want to play games, I want to win games.”
Marchessault, an orginal Golden Knight, said he was “disapppointed” he could not re-sign with Vegas, but said, “I turned the page an hour ago. We move on. A new chapter, a new challenge for me and my family.”
Stamkos signed an eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value) on June 29, 2016. Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois and Stamkos met after they arrived back in Tampa following a season-ending 6-1 loss at the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round on April 29.
BriseBois said signing Stamkos to a new contract is “obviously a priority.”
“Obviously, Steven Stamkos needs a contract and we want him part of that group,” BriseBois said May 1. ” … I am very hopeful.”
The No. 1 pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, Stamkos has 1,137 points (555 goals, 582 assists) in 1,082 games over 16 seasons, all with the Lightning ranking first in points, goals, games, power-play goals (214), game-winning goals (85) and overtime goals (13) in team history.
He won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for most goals in a season twice (51 in 2009-10, and 60 in 2011-12) and led the Lighting to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021.
“At the end of the day, winning is still what fuels me,” Stamkos said May 1. “Being a big part of that culture fuels me. Obviously, certain things have changed now; I have an amazing young family that has put roots down in this city and really enjoy living here and playing here. From that perspective the decision is more than just me now, and that’s something that is amazing for me to have that and be in that situation.
“There’s different factors than there were last time, but nothing’s really changed in terms of my mindset and where I wanted to be and play, and that was here. So, that certainly hasn’t changed.”
Since entering the NHL, Stamkos is second in goals, behind only Alex Ovechkin (690) and fourth in points, behind Sidney Crosby (1,302), Ovechkin (1,240) and Patrick Kane (1,212).
“When you don’t have control of the situation, you just have to come to terms with that,” Stamkos said. “For sure, there were times throughout the year you think about those things in private conversations with friends and family and mentors and things like that, but for me, I tried to leave that at home and when I came to the rink it never crossed my mind.
Stamkos is third in playoff points (101) and assists (51), second in goals (50) and fifth in games (128) in Lightning history.
“He belongs here. We know it, he knows it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said April 29. “We’ve grown up together, he’s a heck of a player, but he’s also … I mean, he controls his own destiny, but I don’t know what’s going to happen. But he feels like a Bolt for life, but only he and Julien can answer that one.”
Marchessaul, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, had 69 points (42 goals, 27 assists) last season, and had four points in seven playoff games.
He has 487 points (230 goals, 257 assists) in 638 regular-season games with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Lightning, Florida Panthers and Golden Knights.
