No Stamkos?

Good list .. add Stamkos and Vergeghe and subtract Paquette and Killorn .. shows how small our core really is

Surely this is not a serious question.

Absolutely serious .. Cooper and Stamkos both go if no Cup .. Stamkos game other than a 1 timer is pedestrian... to keep both is just insanity .. and we all know definitiom of insanity ..

Cooper should be done if we lose this year, but Stamkos has proven himself to be a star player. He scored 40g last year and leads the team in points right now, with over a point per game. His playoff performance is comparatively disappointing, but a good coach (if not Cooper, his successor) would be carefully reviewing with him why that may be and how to change that. There's no real reason Stamkos can't dominate the playoffs like he does the regular season given the right mentality and coaching assistance. Either way, though, you act as if playoffs are a guaranteed thing. Last time we lost Stamkos for most of the season to injury, even though we were initial Cup favorites, Kucherov had his breakout season and scored 40g, Hedman set career highs, Vasilevskiy and Bishop were the best goaltending duo there was, and we had young talent like Point entering the team, it wasn't enough to earn a playoff spot. If you get rid of all of our depth players and exchange them for prospects, and move Stamkos, there's no reason to think we'd be better than we were in 2016-17; in fact, a lot of these players, based on training camp, haven't looked quite ready for NHL action and aren't necessarily an improvement over our wingers who have proven that they can, at the very least, fulfill the role of supporting players.

Also, from a management perspective, star players like Stamkos provide good marketing opportunities that generate revenue. Stamkos has, for right or for wrong, essentially become the face of the franchise, and moving him would hurt our team revenue. That (along with the NMC) makes him extremely valuable to management regardless of how he plays.

Don't disagree on the marketing angle at all .. do his 5V5 .. plus minus .. and playoff performance .. it not pretty .. also the year Tampa lost to Pens .. up 3 to 2 on conference finals .. was done largely without Stamkos ..

Oh come on... I agree with Cooper, but Stammer? Stop that hate dude.

Do the research man .. seperate the marketing and PP one timer with 5 on 5 and playoff stats .. we already know of the the 3 playoff chokes under his "leadership"

I mean, I’m not saying Stamkos is good in the playoffs, not that we can’t have a good run without him (it hurts a bit, but as you said, we’ve done it before). Maybe removing the “C” could be a good move. But what I am saying is that Stamkos is extremely talented. I don’t think you can deny that. So if the talent is there, a new coach and some leadership changes could very well be the difference that makes the talent turn into playoff production. Trading a superstar because of a major weakness is bad organizationally; figuring out how to overcome that weakness and maintain star power while improving yourselves overall is the better move, and an improved coaching staff would have a good shot at the latter.

Your logic is sound .. BUT .. there is a time element here .. if you underacheive in Cup year and year .. to me it 3 out of last 5 years .. a playoff choke culture forms and very rarely does it change. Change is needed to get over hump .. because eventually the "next year" disappears and you are the Buffalo Bills .. Hedmen and Stamkos are in year 11/12!!! .. a major change and maybe addition by subtraction is needed .. the goal is to win Cup not just win games .. there is a difference .. watched Colorado kill Vegas last night .. Colorado brought in FIVE new UFAs or trades for 2019 .. THAT is how you win .. and we trade Miller and say gee golly lets hope the shrimps do better .. ugh