When the Tampa Bay Lightning returned home from the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh following their Game 7 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2016 Eastern Conference Final, the question on the top of everyone’s minds is when the Lightning would be able to re-sign captain Steven Stamkos.
As the off-season is coming to a close, Lightning fans are growing incredibly wary due to the fact the Bolts leading point scorer in the 2015-16 season, Nikita Kucherov, remains without a new deal. Given the stressors fans have dealt with in the past with Stamkos, and the amount of cap space the Lightning have right now, we can see why Tampa Bay Lightning fans would be worried.