Lightning's Stamkos coming to terms with growing celebrity

Steven Stamkos sat in the stands inside Rogers Centre during a recent summer afternoon, a typical fan hanging out with his buddies and taking in a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game.

For the recent 51-goal scorer, however, there suddenly is nothing typical about being out in public.

In hockey-mad Toronto, Stamkos was easily picked out of the crowd by many of the fans in the ballpark. By the time the game ended, Stamkos was happily obliging requests for autographs or a quick picture. After granting a handful of requests, however, the 20-year-old received a tap on his shoulder from a member of the security staff, who asked him to take a look behind him.

It was after glancing over his shoulder that Stamkos realized how high his celebrity status had reached just a few months after tying Sidney Crosby for the league lead in goals.

"Standing there was a line of probably over 100 people lining up,'' Stamkos said. "That's when I had to say that I don't have that kind of time and I had to go. That's when it kind of hits you and it's kind of surreal.

"I mean, your friends don't look at you any differently, you don't look at yourself any differently, but after a season like that people are going to look up to you.''

Since arriving in the NHL, Stamkos has had the name recognition that comes with being selected first overall in the 2008 draft. After becoming the third youngest player in league history to score at least 50 goals, his face recognition grew exponentially over a few short months.

"I even went on a little trip to the Bahamas and there were still people who recognized me, whether it was getting on the plane in the Toronto area or down there on vacation,'' he said. "So that's when it kind of hits you that you can't really get away, even there, without somebody coming up to you.''

The next time Stamkos likely will make headlines is when he signs a new contract. His current deal pays him a base salary of $850,000 (the maximum under an entry-level contract) with bonuses. The next deal he signs will likely be of the long-term variety with a salary somewhere north of $7 million per season, the going rate for burgeoning stars who score 50 goals.  He enters the 2010-11 campaign in the final season of his three-year entry-level contract, which means he could be a restricted free agent next summer.

Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, who has plowed through plenty of other items on his docket in his first summer at the helm, wants to ensure Stamkos never hits the free agent market. Although there have not been any discussions between the Lightning and Stamkos' agent to this point, Yzerman said re-signing Stamkos remains a priority.

"I haven't had a chance to really start on that, but once we get into (training) camp ... I will start to get prepared and make contact with Steven's representation at some point,'' Yzerman said. "I would prefer (it didn't linger) but you can never be really certain as to which direction it will go, but he is an important part of the organization and we will make our best effort to get it done as quickly as possible.

"Our goal is to get Steven re-signed and he is an important part of the franchise, which is an understatement.''

Whether a new contract gets hammered out quickly or it takes time to come to terms, Stamkos said the process won't weigh heavily on his mind.

"There is no rush for me, I'm not pressing on anything to get done on a certain timeline,'' he said. "I have thought about it, for sure, but not to any kind of big extent. It's obviously a big year because it's the last year of a contract, but ... there have been some others in the past who struggle in those years and let it get to them.

"For me, I'm lucky to have great guys on this team to be here with and our team is looking really good. I'm just excited to get the season going, contract or not.''