In other words, Stamkos will remain in Tampa.
As for the Flyers, they have more realistic goals. When the unrestricted free-agent market opens at noon on Friday, the Flyers have their eyes on several veteran forwards, including Erik Cole, Jamie Langenbrunner, and Simon Gagne. Michal Handzus and Michael Ryder are also getting looks.
The Flyers have about $6.7 million in salary-cap space, but that number figures to grow when the season starts because the team is expected to send Michael Leighton ($1.55 million) back to the Phantoms and place Ian Laperierre ($1.16 million) on the long-term injured list.
Teams can go 10 percent over the cap in the summer.
The Flyers still must sign restricted free agents Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek. That will happen soon.
They are also optimistic about re-signing Ville Leino, who can become an unrestricted free agent on Friday.
General manager Paul Holmgren said he has been playing phone tag with Leino's agent and he thinks a deal will get done.
Signing Leino is a must because the Flyers offense was severely weakened by the Carter and Richards deals.
On Tuesday, the Flyers introduced the three young forwards acquired last week - Simmonds, Voracek and Brayden Schenn - in a news conference at the Wells Fargo Center.
Each player said he didn't feel pressure because he was involved in trades involving Richards or Carter, high-scoring forwards who were the face of the franchise.
"I'm just going to come here and play my game," said Simmonds, 22, a hard-nosed winger who said he felt honored that he was greeted by a text message from future Hall of Famer Chris Pronger welcoming him to Philadelphia after the deal. "I think my game speaks for itself."
