John Romano: Steven Stamkos is still with Lightning, which should not go unnoticed

He would like to stay. No one doubts that. But it’s not hard to imagine that Stamkos, who has been the picture of corporate loyalty, would also like to see some recognition of his sacrifices through the years. Pride matters, and it had to sting to see the Lightning signing younger players to long-term deals while his contract grew near its end.

General manager Julien BriseBois has deftly balanced the need to get younger and cheaper while somehow remaining in contention long past Tampa Bay’s expected expiration date. And part of that is making the difficult decisions to let popular players walk away. It is his job, he will tell you, to build a roster that has the greatest odds of winning the Stanley Cup no matter what names are on the backs of jerseys.

But Stamkos is a different kind of name, right? As much as it hurt to say goodbye to Alex Killorn or Ondrej Palat or Ryan McDonagh or Tyler Johnson, the Stamkos decision is a whole new level of logic vs. emotion. BriseBois has always focused on the greater good, but does the Stamkos legacy alter that mindset?

“It obviously factors in,” BriseBois said recently.

Another factor, in what could be a cruel twist, is a late-season hot streak that saw Stamkos score 16 goals in his final 17 games. Instead of a star fading gracefully into a new role, Stamkos looked potent and revitalized at the most important time of the year.

How inviting would it be for a team trying to get over the playoff hump to offer a stack of cash to a player with Stanley Cup pedigree who just finished third in the NHL in power-play goals?

“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t (leave),” Stamkos said. “But I’ve tried to do my best to leave that stuff to the side or to private conversations. When I come to the rink, I try to be as great a teammate as I can. And listen, whether I had a contract or not, it was clear to me that it wasn’t going to affect my everyday work. And I think that’s something I can say and be proud that it hasn’t.”

At least one other person on the Lightning bench would agree. As much as Stamkos’ goal-scoring contributed to Tampa Bay’s late surge, coach Jon Cooper saw his star’s value in a much different context when asked what impressed him most about Stamkos at 34.

“To be honest, and it’s maybe not the answer you’re looking for, it’s how he’s led this group,” Cooper said. “People are going to look at the amount of goals he scored in March and how he got to 40. That is what the general public eye will see, but what he’s done in the room and behind the scenes and on the bench has been a big lift for us.”

It is, in a way, what the Lightning brought Stamkos here to do so many years ago. The team had not won a playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup four years earlier, and Stamkos was the player they were going to build a new era around.

It wasn’t a smooth transition — they failed to reach the playoffs in four of his first five seasons — but they slowly began adding players such as Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point before hiring Cooper in 2013. Since then, they’ve been the class of the NHL and Stamkos has been the face of the franchise.

“It’s just crazy, you know, when I think about having 16 regular seasons in the books,” Stamkos said. “That’s pretty, pretty amazing when I look back and think it’s been that long. I’ve had some amazing memories and teammates and all that has come along with 16 years. Starting a family and raising a family here and still having my parents come to games when they’re in town. There are a lot of cool memories. And like I said, hopefully I’ll have a lot more.”

For at least one more week, Steven Stamkos still belongs to Tampa Bay.

Take a moment to appreciate that.