from Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun,

Steve Yzerman didn’t have to dip into the foolishness that is the free-agent frenzy to land the title of the National Hockey League’s off-season champion.

He did that by keeping his own talented house in order.

After what Stevie Y has managed to accomplish the past few days, it says here his Tampa Bay Lightning are going to be beasts of the east for most of the next decade.

First, after not budging from the eight-year, US$68 million (an average annual value of $8.5 million) offer tabled to Steven Stamkos months ago, even Yzerman admitted he was surprised when the Lightning captain on Wednesday agreed to take the hometown discount — at least in terms of his hockey home in Tampa, that is.

By leaving money on the table from other interested teams, Stamkos understood that his contract — said to have an average annual value (AAV) that is about $2.5 million per less than what the Buffalo Sabres were willing to give him — gave Yzerman some cap flexibility to lock up some other key pieces to the puzzle moving forward.

continued