That deal would have been worth four first-rounders in the RFA world. That’s not such a horrible thing to assume (a team picking mid-to-late in the round probably does not expect to get a Stamkos-level talent out of that pool anyway).

Still, that assumes Stamkos would have signed for 5 years at $7.5M per year with another team.

What I’m wondering is how this deal, which seems so fair to both sides took so long to make. Did Stamkos finally come down on demands for money/years or was Tampa Bay trying to lowball him?