Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Tampa pushes Stamkos’ love of Lightning amid Leafs homecoming speculation

Tampa Bay Lightning v Pittsburgh Penguins

PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 22: Steven Stamkos #91 of the Tampa Bay Lightning skates against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the game at Consol Energy Center on March 22, 2014 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Justin K. Aller

Steven Stamkos has been thrust into the rumor mill lately after he briefly favorited on Twitter an article asking when an Ontario-born superstar will come to Toronto like LeBron James did with Cleveland (obviously, LeBron was also returning to the team that drafted him) and a Tweet asking if Stamkos and fellow Ontario-native John Tavares might eventually join the Maple Leafs in their own Miami Heat-style coup.

Stamkos still has two seasons left on his deal with Tampa Bay before he becomes an unrestricted free agent, so even if there was some merit to the idea that he might want to play for Toronto, nothing will happen in the near future. All the same, the Lightning seemed interested in combating that story this morning.

Amen, @RealStamkos91. Read more: http://t.co/SbCJRlM9vj pic.twitter.com/tmrtDkRBK4

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 24, 2014

That quote is part of a larger interview that Stamkos gave to The Canadian Press on Wednesday. In the same interview, the subject of him signing with Toronto once his contract expired came up.

“We’ll see what happens. It’s a couple years away,” Stamkos said. “Right now I’m focused on what I have to do to win in Tampa, and I think we’ve really established ourselves as a team that can compete in upcoming years.”

Follow @RyanDadoun