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Yzerman makes Martin St. Louis extension a “priority”

Martin St. Louis

Tampa Bay Lightning’s Martin St. Louis celebrates after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

AP

Steve Yzerman has always been a class individual both on and off the ice. After the previous owners regime has ended in Tampa Bay, Yzerman’s doing the best he can to bring some of that class and respect back to the Lightning front office in both how he handles hiring or interviewing people for positions with the team.

Today, we find out that doing good personnel service and respecting guys who have done a lot for the team also fits into that discussion as Yzerman is making it a “priority” to get a contract extension done with forward Martin St. Louis.

“He’s a first-class guy and he deserves to be treated with the utmost respect, and I’ll do that,” Yzerman said. “Where it ends up, we’ll see. They want to make a deal that makes sense for them, and I have to make a deal that makes sense for us. We have some time to get it done, but it definitely is a priority for me.”

St. Louis will turn 35 years-old on Friday, so extending his deal means having implications long-term as any deal signed by a 35+ player stays on the books no matter what happens. Expecting a long contract or one that has a potentially painful price tag shouldn’t be expected, then again, there’s a sucker born every minute. Most of those suckers aren’t generally named Glen Sather, however.

All that aside, St. Louis has been nothing if not consistent putting up goal totals ranging between a low of 25 and a high of 43 in each of his last seven seasons while also proving to be a steady playmaker knocking out 50+ assists in six of his last seven seasons. For a guy that’s 5'9" 175 those are impressive numbers in what’s supposed to be a big man’s league.