John Romano: Farewell, Godspeed and thank you, Steven Stamkos

TAMPA BAY, Fla. — We fall in love easily.

That’s what a sports fan does. Every new prospect is a potential romance, and every season’s end is another round of heartbreak. It’s not that we’re difficult, we just have certain qualities we demand of our athletic idols.

Like dignity. Loyalty and humility. Persistence, heart and a scorer’s touch. Oh, also championships. Big, splashy, remember-them-forever championships.

As it happens, Steven Stamkos was the love of our lives.

He arrived in Tampa Bay as an 18-year-old and was asked to rescue a floundering hockey team. Sixteen years later, he has exceeded all expectations. He is a future Hall of Famer, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, a community icon and a constant companion through our TV screens, radio dials and newspapers.

And now he is gone.

Technically, he left as a free agent to sign with Nashville. Realistically, he was nudged aside by the Lightning because the salary cap is unforgiving and his game as a 34-year-old no longer fits the team’s needs.

So how do you say goodbye to a player who grew up before your eyes? A player who has been on the roster for more than half of Tampa Bay’s 31 seasons? His time in Tampa Bay spanned ownership groups, last-place finishes, record-breaking seasons, a shattered leg, a blood clot, knee surgery, sports hernia surgery, the departures of Marty St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier, the arrivals of Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov, and the most wicked shot many of us have ever known.

That’s a legacy more rare than you might realize. As a sports market, we’ve seen top draft picks come and go. Some became treasures (Lee Roy Selmon), some were troubled (Josh Hamilton). Some were decent (Vinny Testaverde), some were quite good (Lecavalier, David Price), and some were busts (Tim Beckham).

But none stayed as long, accomplished as much or carried the burden of the infamous “Seen Stamkos?” marketing campaign prior to that 2008 draft. And none burrowed himself into our hearts quite like Stamkos.

“Stammer’s Hall of Fame career in Tampa has been a testament to perseverance,” said former general manager Jay Feaster, who drafted Stamkos. “From the pressure of ‘Seen Stamkos?’ to a head coach who healthy scratched him and drastically limited his ice time when he started his career to dealing with so many serious injuries, he never complained, never wavered, just kept working hard every day.

“He’s a class act and he’s represented the franchise with such professionalism and dignity.”

If you watched his interviews Monday afternoon after the Predators gave him a four-year, $32 million deal, you saw the best of Stamkos. He neither hid his disappointment for the way things ended in Tampa Bay nor did he wallow in it. You saw his pride, and you saw his maturity. Mostly, you saw the steely, cool determination to succeed that will serve him well in the hideous colors of Nashville.

I get that fans are angry. I understand when they talk of feeling betrayed by the organization.

But it’s entirely possible that the story is better for having ended this way.

It’s cleaner. Safer. More poignant. Yes, it would have been heartwarming to see him finish his career in a Lightning sweater but that hope carries risks of its own. Tampa Bay has been in a slow decline the past couple of seasons and, without a reshaping of the roster, would likely have struggled some more.

Maybe it was better to cut ties too soon rather than jeopardize our fondest memories by hanging on too long. The Penguins have been chasing the past with Sidney Crosby and have won only one playoff series in the past seven years. Would you feel better if Stamkos’ career wound down like that?

“I would like to reiterate what I told Steven (Sunday) night when we spoke on the phone,” general manager Julien BriseBois said. “I wish him nothing but success in Nashville. I wish him and his family nothing but happiness. I thanked him for his years of service.

“He was a consummate professional and will continue to be so. Great captain. The mark that he is leaving on this organization, and this community as well, is indelible. First-ballot Hall of Famer, iconic shot, a number of iconic goals. I wish him nothing but happiness, and he will be missed.”

We’ve seen enough to know that most careers end with bruised feelings or regret. It’s the nature of sports. The reflexes slow, the money dries up, the aspirations differ.

It’s taken 16 years to reach this moment, but the stars no longer are aligned for the Lightning and Stamkos. At least not as far as BriseBois was concerned. The Lightning needed fresher legs to play a 200-foot game and signing 29-year-old Jake Guentzel to a seven-year, $63 million contract accomplishes that. Ironically, it means Guentzel will be two years older than Stamkos is now when the contract ends, but that’s a worry for another day.

For now, the Lightning are younger, quicker and deeper. And Stamkos has a fat, final payday and a team that desperately wanted him.

In the meantime, we have a treasure box of memories. Stamkos reaching 60 goals in 2012. Coming off the bench following core muscle surgery in 2020 and scoring a goal on his first shot in seven months in the Stanley Cup Final against Dallas. Dropping his gloves and fighting Auston Matthews after Brayden Point was sent into the boards against Toronto in the 2023 playoffs. Passing Lecavalier as the Lightning’s all-time leader in goals, and catching St. Louis as the franchise’s all-time points leader.

Yes, as of today, Stamkos is officially assigned to Tampa Bay’s past.

A past that will never be forgotten and, presumably, never duplicated.

____