Hometown discount or highway robbery?
Or maybe, when discussing what it would take for the Toronto Maple Leafs to sign Steven Stamkos this summer, it is a bit of both.
The Tampa Bay Lightning captain, who is a pending free agent, reportedly walked away from an eight-year contract offer worth $8.5-million (all figures in U.S. dollars) annually.
Some called it a lowball offer. But even if the Leafs up the ante and offer the Markham, Ont., native an annual salary of $10 million, he would still be leaving money on the table.
That is because only Tampa Bay can offer Stamkos a term of eight years to re-sign (he would be maxed at seven years to sign elsewhere).