Took the words out of my mouth. There was no need to string everyone along. Stamkos deserved much better. It will be weird seeing Stamkos in a different jersey, but I wish Tampa front office showed him much more respect than they did in the process for everything Stamkos has done for that organization.
What JBB just did with Stamkos, will hurt Lightning's organization way worse that any contract could've ever done. The fractured relationships, lockeroom chemistry, organization reputation, trust, etc. doesn't get fixed overnight,. That takes time, and even years to build sometimes. Oh well, hope some lust to win so much was worth it. Hind-sight 20/20, but would've rather Lightning done right after back-to-back, and 3-peat attempt. Than what has taken place. It's one thing to retool, but way JBB did this was nasty and ruthless. Like I said, JBB actions and behavior these last two years, will do more harm than any contract could ever do.
Lightning trading away players right away after 3 peat, would gotten Lightning a sweet young haul these last few drafts. Would rather Lightning organization kept it's dignity & reputation after 6 ECF's, 4 SCF's, and back-to-backs. Rather than watch this waddling around in the mud pretending Lightning are a championship caliber team year after year. Lightning are in the land of delusion, and some are willing to sell teams soul, just for another chance to relive glory-days. So much so, they're willing to follow this GM off-the-cliff: while he ruins what took years to build...."A brand" Stamkos had been a huge part of that brand and deserved way better than this GM gave him. Period!!!! Plus, fans deserve better than to be lied too over & over during process And if this is who Lightning are now, and this is "The product"? Our house is about done with, or maybe done until JBB is gone. Done trying to figure out why BriseBois did this, all that matters is he did now!!!!