TAMPA — The combined ages of Steven Stamkos and new coach Guy Boucher don’t even add up to 60.
But the big numbers the two are producing so far this season with the Lightning should soon add up to an agreement on a new long-term deal for soon-to-be restricted free agent Stamkos in the coming months.
“It’s the place I want to play,” Stamkos said Monday at the St. Petes Times Forum. “I love the players I’m with. I love the city and it’s somewhere I could see myself a long time. Having said that, the only thing I control (about negotiations) is my play. As much as people ask me, ‘How can’t you be worried about it’, you know it will get done and will play itself out.”
A chance meeting between Stamkos’ agent Mark Guy and Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman at a game in Los Angeles last week led to speculation that talks were underway. But Guy said in an e-mail to the Toronto Sun “all that I can say at this stage is that both sides have acknowledged the importance of this negotiation and that we plan to speak in the coming weeks to discuss timelines.”
The Lightning, who the Leafs play Tuesday night, are in Toronto later this month where Guy’s office with Newport Sports is located. Five years between $6 million and $7 million is likely a good starting point for the 20-year-old.
“I’ve just tried to help this team get off to a pretty decent start,” Stamkos said of his 11 goals and 11 assists in 13 games this year.
But Boucher, who has a degree in sports psychology, looks beyond goals and assists. Selected by the incoming Yzerman, who knows a few things about the coach’s role in a championship recipe, Boucher was charged with getting a capable Lightning team back on the rails after an ownership-managment-coaching chaos tore apart the 2004 Stanley Cup winners.
Yzerman said he loved the way Boucher would adapt to whatever resources were provided him, wherever he coached, from the QMJHL to the AHL.
“I try to find a way to get an edge like any other coach and if I don’t find an edge with something, I go nuts,” Boucher said. “All I know is that I dare. I don’t care if it’s been done before, I dare, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll change it.”
Boucher ran Monday’s 90-minute workout like a Marine boot camp, angered by the way his team underwhelmed in a 1-2-1 West Coast swing that followed an October run to the top of the Eastern Conference.
In case his players heard about the stat that 22 of the past 24 teams who led the conference at Halloween have made the playoffs, Boucher’s booming voice and four-letter words drowned it out.
He stopped practice to ream out a player for a mis-step on a drill, had players dropping to do push-ups and already had had the team’s dressing room redecorated with motivational mottos, and pictures of ’04 and players with bleeding cuts.
“Yeah, he’s got that intimidating demeanour,” Stamkos agreed. “But when he talks, everyone listens. When he has something to say, he’s not afraid to step up say it to the team and everyone has to respond.
“He’s such a smart, smart guy that everything that comes out of his mouth is well-thought out and is usually the answer to why we’re not playing as well as we can.”
There have been some major falling outs between coaches and star players in Tampa, going back to John Tortorella and Vinny Lecavalier and a rookie Stamkos and the short-lived Barry Melrose, But Boucher and Stamkos have mutual respect.
“I coached him on the (Canadian) under 18 team and knew what kind of person he is,” Boucher said. “Our relationship is a very open one.
“We’re looking for him to mature into one of the top leaders and top players. We’re lucky to have Steve Yzerman, who went from a skilled offensive star to make himself a complete, reliable two-way guy that makes his team win and inspires everybody. Stamkos is in position right now to elevate his game into that complete style.
“He’s got all the desire, drive, the stamina, it’s just he’s learning the trade. Sometimes he’s outstanding and sometimes you see he needs to work on little details. You look at his stats and think, ‘Yeah, he’s already that impact guy’, but there’s more to doing that. There are a lot of scorers in our league you wouldn’t put out in the last minute of the game if you’re leading by one. He’s doing a great job at it.”
