Toronto Maple Leafs fans were enamored with the idea of signing Steven Stamkos before the elite forward ended up re-signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Ontario-born star, unsurprisingly, was massively coveted. “Stamkos Watch” chewed up many hours of sports talk radio and television leading up to his free agency.
While fans held their breath in the waning minutes of Stamkos being available, Toronto mayor John Tory knew the former Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy winner wasn’t heading to The Six.
According to Freedom of Information requests obtained by the Toronto Sun, the mayor’s office knew about the decision before the press.
“The Mayor attended an event on Monday,” Tory spokesperson Amanda Galbraith wrote to chief of staff Chris Eby. “(Stamkos is) not coming he’s staying in Tampa, that will be out tomorrow.”
MLSE responded to the mayor’s office request about the situation.
A few hours later, MLSE spokesman Dave Haggith replies to the Mayor’s office by e-mail. He sends a short message with a tweet from a TSN reporter in the body of the message.
“Cancel the Stamkos Sweepstakes, he has decided to return to the Tampa Bay Lightning,” the reporter had tweeted.
“This will put an end to the media calls to the mayor’s office on this … thanks for your help,” Haggith writes of the social media message.
It’s not surprising someone knew about Stamkos’ decision before it was officially announced, but considering Tory did, I can’t imagine it was easy to face Toronto residents when Stamkos’ homecoming to Toronto was a possibility. The hype was real, but Stamkos passed to stay in familiar territory.
[Ian McLaren/theScore] [Image via Jack Boland/Toronto Sun/QMI Agency]
