Martin St. Louis breaks silence on ex-teammate Steven Stamkos leaving Tampa
Former Bolts captain is sharing his thoughts after the most recent Tampa captain departs town.
This summer brought the official end of an era for the Tampa Bay Lightning, as former No. 1 overall Draft selection and longtime team captain Steven Stamkos signed a $32 million contract with the Nashville Predators.
His departure from Tampa Bay came after multiple reports in the media that he wasn't happy with the lack of progress on a new contract, especially prior to the start of last season. But as you remember, Stamkos isn't the first Lightning captain to leave town under less than positive circumstances.
2004 Stanley Cup champion Martin St. Louis was traded from the Bolts to the New York Rangers in 2014 after publicly disagreeing with then-GM Steve Yzerman's decision to leave him off the roster for Team Canada during the Sochi Olympics earlier that winter. He was dealt in a one-for-one trade in exchange for Rangers captain Ryan Callahan, and even faced his former teammates the following season in the playoffs.
And while fences were eventually mended which also included St. Louis' jersey No. 26 being hung from the rafters at Amalie Arena, St. Louis understands better than most what Stamkos is experiencing.
"It's tough leaving," St. Louis explained. "I'm not going to get into how everything was handled. It's hard to leave, but I don't think it's a bad thing for 'Stammer' to go and experience something else. It'd be nice to stay in the same place for that long, which he was fortunate to do. What was he, 16 years there? That's a long time. I think he's going to look back on his career and I think he's going to be happy that he experienced something else, and he's going to a really good situation."
"... I told him that I look back on my experience and I'm glad that I did what I did, especially being able to dictate a little bit where you're going to go," St. Louis said of his conversations with Stamkos this summer. "... I feel like he's come around and I think he's excited for what's coming for him."
Having previously led the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships and holding several franchise scoring records, Stamkos will almost certainly have his jersey No. 91 retired by the Lightning when he hangs up the skates.
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