Yzerman Handcuffed by Tampa Bay's $30 Million Lost

On May 2nd Forbes released an artice entitled "Tampa Bay Lightning To Post Huge Loss This Year Despite Stanley Cup Run". Where Mike Ozanian breaks down how Tampa went so far this year and still will post a pre-tax loss of $30M. Here's a piece from that article.

But the Lightning will still post a pretax loss of around $30 million even if they reach the finals, according to a person familiar with the Lightning’s finances. In large part this is because the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, which began with the 2005-06 season. Playoff teams must pay the N.H.L. a low six-figure fee to help cover the league’s costs to produce the playoffs, including expenses for travel, marketing and officiating. The fees increase each round. Also, teams are required to contribute part of their playoff ticket revenue to the N.H.L.’s revenue-sharing program, which redistributes money to the financially weaker teams.

This puts sophomore GM Steve Yzerman in a tough position. Although his team has upwards of $23M to spend before hitting the new $64.3M salary cap ceiling, the contracts he has to sign may not go over well with the people whose money he's spending.

It came out a few days ago that the Lightning were not going to be able to re-sign Simon Gagne, despite reports all throughout the year that they were planning on it. Now they have to turn their attention to Steven Stamkos, who is said to want around $7M per season. This is something that the Lightning clearly cannot commit to, they already give too much money to too many players on the team.

Lightning's highest paid players by 2011-12 Salaries:
Vincent Lecavalier - 10M
Martin St. Louis - 5.5M
Ryan Malone - 5.5M
Mattias Ohlund - 5.5M
Eric Brewer - 3.85M
Pavel Kubina - 3.5M

Also factor in that they Lightning have just 13 of the 20 players they need to fill their NHL roster signed. Lightning free agents include Stamkos, Ted Purcell, Simon Gagne, Sean Bergenheim, Adam Hall, Bruno Gervais, Matt Smaby, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Randy Jones, Mike Smith and Dwayne Roloson. The next thing to look at is 2012 free agents, for Tampa this list includes Victor Hedman, Pavel Kubina, Steve Downie, Domonic Moore, Dana Tyrell and Brent Clark.

If this organization is losing money and soon all of its players if Stamkos is signed to a deal worth $7M per, why would they sign Stamkos?

The question sounds stupid but this game is more than just cap space and how many stars a team can fit within their share. There are teams in the league not as lucky as they Flyers, Tampa is one of them. It is unknown what kind of budget they are working with right now, but there is a chance that Stamkos and a 20 man roster may not fit together.

Tampa Bay has to be in a bit of a crisis already without a goalie with significant NHL experience signed for next season. Add a 50 goal scorer's reluctance to sign and Yzerman may do something drastic. The Lightning are in a position where Stamkos leaving on an offer sheet only hurts them. With a majority of their team in the ladder years of their careers Tampa needs players who can play in the league now to stay competitive.

This plays right into the Flyers' hand. The Flyers have two NHL ready goalies, Leighton and Bob, who won't be put to much use while Bryzgalov is manning the pipes. They also have prospects down the middle out of nowhere, in the acquisition of Schenn and drafting Couturier and Cousins. Add that with the ownership of all their future first round picks and the Flyers could put together a solid offer to send Stevie Y before July 1st.

Don't rule out the chance of getting Stamkos, Philly.
And god bless Cap Geek.