Report: Stamkos not among Lightning's untouchable players

The Tampa Bay Lightning have ruled out dealing four players this offseason, but captain Steven Stamkos isn't one of them, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie.

The Lightning told other teams that forwards Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, along with defenseman Victor Hedman and netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, are considered untouchables, McKenzie adds.

General manager Julien BriseBois is looking to offload contracts this offseason as Tampa faces a serious cap crunch. The club has just $5.33 million in projected cap space for 2020-21 with key restricted free-agent forward Anthony Cirelli, and defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak up for new deals.

Stamkos, 30, has four years remaining on his current contract, which carries the team's third-highest annual cap hit at $8.5 million. He also has a full no-move clause in his deal.

The 6-foot-1 sniper ranked second on the Lightning in goals (29) and points (66) through 57 games this season. Stamkos was sidelined with an injury for most of the club's Stanley Cup run and contributed one goal in just 2:47 of ice time in the playoffs.

Lightning forward Tyler Johnson, who is on the books for $5 million in each of the next four seasons, has reportedly agreed to help the club find a potential trade.

Copyright (C) 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.