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No more waiting: Lightning sign Steven Stamkos to five-year, $37.5 million deal

Washington Capitals v Tampa Bay Lightning - Game Three

TAMPA, FL - MAY 03: Steven Stamkos #91 of the Tampa Bay Lightning scores the game tying goal in the third period against the Washington Capitals in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at St Pete Times Forum on May 3, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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If you’ve been sweating things out all summer waiting to see what happens with Lightning superstar restricted free agent Steve Stamkos, your wait is over.

Tampa Bay announced they’ve signed Stamkos to a five-year contract to stick around with the fast-rising Lightning. The Sporting News’ Craig Custance tweets that the deal is worth $7.5 million per year against the cap bringing the total worth of the contract to $37.5 million. The rumors that swirled around the deal the two sides were working on proved to be true as the final amount of the deal was what was being floated in reports.

What proved to be totally unfounded were the trade rumors and potential offer sheets that were coming Stamkos’ way if the Lightning and GM Steve Yzerman kept taking their time getting a deal done. Yzerman had this to say about the deal in the team’s press release.

“Steven is extremely important to this franchise and is part of the foundation of our hockey team,” Yzerman said. “We are very pleased to have him signed and look forward to seeing him in a Lightning uniform for years to come.”

Yzerman should be excited about keeping Stamkos in Tampa. Stamkos has scored 96 goals over the last two seasons and proved to be MVP-like in his play the first half of this season helping keep the Lightning afloat as the team adjusted to new coach Guy Boucher’s system. Stamkos’ ability to score seemingly at will on the power play from the face off circles helped further establish his star power and credibility after tying for the Rocket Richard Trophy two seasons ago scoring 51 goals. Scoring 45 goals this past year and breaking the 90 point barrier for the second year in a row have proven what an important player he is for the Lightning and why he’s their go-to guy up the middle now.

While Stamkos is now one of the premiere stars in the NHL, he managed to cut the Lightning a bit of a break in signing his new deal. Other NHL superstars Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby took larger and/or longer deals than Stamkos did when their entry level deals expired.

Ovechkin signed a 13-year, $124 million deal with Washington while Crosby signed a five-year $43 million deal. You can argue players worth all you’d like, but Tampa getting Stamkos locked up for less than either of those players is a major win for the team. After all, it’s not as if Stamkos is going poor here either.

According to CapGeek, Stamkos’ deal leaves Tampa Bay under the salary cap by more than $7 million and they’ve got one more RFA left to sign in Teddy Purcell. Looks like Yzerman is doing just fine with his cap management skills. Stamkos joins Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier as the highest paid players on the team and his deal is still dwarfed by the one Lecavalier signed back in 2009 that goes for 11 years and $85 million.

It’s just further proof that getting Stamkos locked up to the deal he got today is huge for the team and a sign of the times under a new regime in Tampa Bay.