St. Louis, Stamkos are top summer priorities for Lightning

While mathematically speaking the Lightning have not been eliminated from the playoffs, barring a Doug Flutie-to-Gerard Phelan Hail Mary end to the season, Tampa Bay no doubt will have an interesting summer.

And the summer is going to be an important time in the franchise's future.

While captain Vinny Lecavalier remains the player most indentified with the franchise, there are two others who are vitally important as to how the team runs on the ice. And both players are entering the final years of their contracts.

Tampa Bay's top two scorers - Steven Stamkos and Marty St. Louis - have been the two most consistent forces on the ice this season, with Stamkos in the hunt for a Rocket Richard Trophy as the league's leading scorer in just his second year. St. Louis, in the meantime, continues to be the heart and soul of the team and is the engine that drives the train, something not lost upon others around the league.

When Boston coach Claude Julien was asked about Stamkos after Tampa Bay beat the Bruins on Thursday - a game in which Stamkos scored twice - he had this to say:

"He's a young player that's had a great year, and he's playing with a lot of confidence," Julien said. "They're led by a guy named St. Louis, who's the heart and soul of this team. This young player is kind of riding his coattail and soaking in everything he can."

St. Louis will enter next season in the final year of a six-year contract signed coming off his MVP campaign in 2004 that will pay him $4 million.

The Lightning can't afford to let St. Louis start next season in a lame duck situation. As soon as the initial rush of the free agency season, which begins July 1, is over, Tampa Bay needs to find a way to ensure he ends his career in a Lightning jersey - he has earned that right.

It doesn't mean hand him the keys to the vault, just that St. Louis deserves to finish his career in Tampa Bay. And when he is done playing, there should be a corner office for him in the St. Pete Times Forum.

As for Stamkos, his matter is not as pressing, but is just as valuable. The 20-year-old will enter next season in the final year of his entry-level contract and would become a restricted free agent after the 2010-11 season. The Lightning can't afford to let that happen, either.

Stamkos has blossomed in his second season, challenging Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby for the league goal-scoring title as the regular season enters the final two weeks. The gaudy offensive numbers aside - Stamkos' 45 goals entering Saturday were the second-highest single-season mark in team history - the 2008 overall top pick has worn an A on his jersey the past two weeks as an alternate captain in the absence of injured D Mattias Ohlund.

So if I'm the Lightning, I look at Stamkos' situation now and consider discussing the possibility of offering his agent a deal in the neighborhood of Crosby, who signed a five-year deal for an average of $8.7 million.

While there are other moves to be made, certainly, this summer to try to help put Tampa Bay back into the postseason next year, there are two issues right now that are a high priority for whomever is running the team this summer.