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Hockey's corner of the Internet has been abuzz for the last several days about the possibility of Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, a free agent in 2016, joining the Toronto Maple Leafs.
I'd love Stamkos to come to Toronto but big Canadian stars almost uniformly avoid Canadian cities. They could come if they wanted to
— El Cafetero (@mlse) July 24, 2014
Stamkos is great. It would be amazing if he came to the Leafs. I doubt it ever happens bc players like him don't change teams.
— Hope_Smoke (@Hope_Smoke) July 24, 2014
Stamkos on Maple Leafs: We'll see what happens; @Sportsnet http://t.co/gtrRSaxTD3
— Jim Learoyd (@JimLearoyd) July 24, 2014
Just imagine... for one second, Steven Stamkos on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Wow.
— Will (@WillySal89) July 24, 2014
It got to the point where the official Lightning twitter account tweeted a quote from Stamkos, attempting to put the rabid Toronto fans back in their place.
Amen, @RealStamkos91. Read more: http://t.co/SbCJRlM9vj pic.twitter.com/tmrtDkRBK4
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 24, 2014
The funny thing is that the quote itself is fairly lukewarm -- certainly nothing to "amen" about. But what's driving this whole conversation anyway?
It may not surprise you to know that, like everything this summer, it's all LeBron James' fault. You see, LeBron had the audacity to sign with his hometown team. That left everyone else wondering when they would get their own homegrown star.
Adam Proteau of The Hockey News wrote a story asking when the Maple Leafs would have their own LeBron, naming both Stamkos and Montreal Canadiens superstar P.K. Subban. Then Stamkos favorited the tweet that included that story and a low, smoldering fire quickly grew out of control.
Stamkos could have favorited the tweet for a bunch of reasons, and has since unfavorited it, but naturally this could only mean one thing: He's going to Toronto as an unrestricted free agent in two years!
That's how a lot of people took it, anyhow -- especially Proteau, who has gone on a bit of a tear talking about Stamkos to Toronto ever since:
FWIW, after that Stamkos piece went up, a good source said he really thinks Stamkos could go to Leafs in '16 & said it'd take a max contract
— Adam Proteau (@Proteautype) July 12, 2014
Throw some more gasoline on that fire.