steven stamkos contract extension?

He isn't going anywhere and they control his rights. People will ramble about an offer sheet but it will never get that far, Yzerman will sign him well before. TB has some expiring contracts like Eric Brewer and Gagne and Roloson. The salary cap is going to go up. The cap space for TB next season is actually over 21MM (with alot of roster spots to fill though) before the cap rise amount.

Cap geek is a decent resource for working the numbers.

To clarify, the Leafs could (if they wanted to just like any other team- for the record I don't see this happening) offer sheet Stamkos. Because July 1st occurs AFTER the 2011 NHL entry draft and the Leafs have their 2012 picks (they have two first round picks in 2011 but they aren't their own) they could offer sheet someone. I point this out because the CBA allows this (it's a legal tactic, meaning it's within the rules!).

The Leafs will have a crapload to spend on July 1st (Giguere is out of contract, Beauchemin and Versteeg are off the books and Kadri has spent most of the season in the AHL so no issues there or concerns about going over the bonus cushion) and unlike Tampa, they have more money than sense and have shown a willingness to bury bad contracts in the AHL (wouldn't shock me one iota if Komisarek and his $4.5mm cap hit get buried- the Versteeg trade was a big shift that Brian Burke won't be blindly loyal to players he signs). Apparently he's a lot more ruthless than we thought.

Bob is right about the addictive qualities of CapGeek. Go on it, and it will show you in unflinching reality what the team does and doesn't have to spend. The people that made it are brilliant geniuses and a little bit evil. I put together a very reasonable 2011-12 Leafs roster (factoring in reasonable raises for Schenn and MacArthur, bringing up Finger and burying Komisarek) that left the Leafs with a hair under $10mm in cap space (and that's with paying Darcy Tucker's $1mm buyout until 2014- the idiot that did that...oy vey).

You can't just "get rid" of Gagne if he has a valid NHL contract. You can bury him in the AHL at the start of the season (still paying his full salary but it doesn't count against the cap) or you can try to trade him to a team that has cap space and get nothing back (to make it look good it'll be a 6th round draft pick). The question is whether or not Tampa's owner has the resources to do this (meaning...money and lots of it).

His current entry level salary is $900K but can have bonuses up to a total of $3.725mm (which he'll hit).

Again- most likely Tampa makes every effort to lock him up and will most likely do so. Look- if the Leafs (or any team) offer sheet Stamkos, Tampa has seven days to match. So hypothetically speaking, another team that may or may not also wear blue and white offer sheets at...oh, let's say $10mm for 10 years (just to make nice round numbers). Steve Yzerman can match the offer and retain Stamkos (and then most likely have to unload bodies to get under the cap by the start of the season).