Stamkos' return to Tampa could depend on another player's decision.

The Tampa Bay Lightning's decision on whether or not to re-sign their star forward, Steven Samkos, may be hinging on the contract demands of another very important player, one that may be even more valuable to the franchise in terms on ice success than Stamkos, defenseman Victor Hedman.

According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman the contract demands from Hedman could be the deciding factor on what stars the Lightning retains and which stars move on from the franchise.

“First of all, in the cap world you can’t keep everybody," said Friedman as per Nichols on Hockey. "I wonder too – Hedman is a year away from unrestricted free agency. I can look at Yzerman saying, ‘I’m not going through this again.’ So my big question is, does he try to take care of Hedman this summer too so he knows where Hedman’s number is. Because it could also start with a 9. And if he does that, does he have the room to do Kucherov and Stamkos."

Whatever the demands from Hedman, Friedman believes that the Lightning will have not one but two tough decision to make this summer, stating that he expects the team to part ways with goaltender Ben Bishop as well as another high profile player, although which one is up for debate.

'And somebody is going there. Bishop probably. But I think one of their other players is going to go. Especially now with Drouin stepping up, is there any chance they look at another one of their guys and say, ‘Alright, somebody else has to go to make room for Stamkos.’

Friedman doesn't mention it in his quote, but that player could very well be Steven Stamkos himself. Although Nikita Kucherov is certainly not as marketable or as familiar a star, he demonstrated during the post season that he can be one of the Lightning's top forwards. And with the aforementioned Jonathan Drouin looking incredible in the post season the Lightning may prefer to let Stamkos go than pay him upwards of $9 million per season.

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