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The Lighting are cap-strapped, playing the same long-term injured reserve dance as the Leafs, and pardon Tampa GM Julien BriseBois for being just a little bit guarded in how he handles Stamkos. Some teams have lived to regret paying their players for what they’ve done in the past.

It’s odd, though, that there have been no talks. It sounds as if Stamkos has no idea what his future holds, and that’s not how you treat a multiple Stanley Cup winner and captain who has sacrificed his body in so many ways to help the team.

It could get messy. It may be that Stamkos will be on the move come July 1, cashing in one last time. It may be that he’s willing to take a pay cut to stay put.

That brings us to Tavares. Leaf fans are clamouring for William Nylander to get his extension done. Mitch Marner, too, will face some pressure come next July 1 to re-sign the way Auston Matthews did in August. But what about Tavares, Stamkos’s best buddy? What will next summer hold for him? He’ll be 34 by the time next season begins.

Will Leafs GM Brad Treliving come with an offer asking for an Evgeni Malkin-like pay cut? Malkin went from a $9.5 million AAV to $6.1 million last season. Doesn’t seem unreasonable. But maybe Treliving has other ideas.

The Leafs haven’t treated their captains very well. George Armstrong was the last to retire with the Leafs. The rest? Puzzlingly mistreated (Dave Keon, Darryl Sittler, Mats Sundin), or simply cast away or traded (Rob Ramage, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Dion Phaneuf).

Extension or Stamkos-like snub? Either way, Tavares is next on the list.

GOT A QUESTION? Email me at askkevinmcgran@gmail.com and I’ll answer it in the next Mailbag. Now to the 13 Musings, pre-season style.

1. The Leafs are 0-1-1 in the pre-season, both losses to the Ottawa Senators. If you’re panicking, well, don’t. The key word: pre-season.

2. The Senators are 2-0-0 against the Leafs. If you’re a Senators fan, chill. It’s pre-season.

3. Easton Cowan scored his first goal with the Leafs in Monday’s 4-3 overtime loss. He’s not keeping the puck. “No, it doesn’t really matter. We lost, so we’ll move on,” he said. Hey, there’s a theme. It’s pre-season.

4. William Nylander as a centre just might work, Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “The thing I liked the most … was Willie and Max (Domi) really connected a lot (Sunday), created a lot of our best offence. Max in particular showed his playmaking ability, and I was really intrigued to see that with Willie, in particular, who is one of our most dangerous people on the roster.”

5. Nylander, like Auston Matthews, will be killing penalties in training camp.

6. Neither Tavares nor veteran defenceman T.J. Brodie have played a pre-season game yet. Tavares will play in St. Thomas, Ont., in the Kraft Hockeyville game on Wednesday against Buffalo.

7. No team needs eight exhibition games, including a run of five games in eight nights.

8. Pontus Holmberg had a role on the team for most of the season until veteran arrivals at the trade deadline forced him to the minors. “The forwards here are really good, so it will be tough for me to take a spot,” he said.

9. Keefe has continued to play music in the latter part of practice. The team has hired a DJ to put together play lists. So far, it’s been mostly electronic dance music. Ryan Reaves is a fan of the idea but not the selections. “The early music was kind of trash. We’ve got to work on that. EDM during practice isn’t it. (I’d prefer) a little hip-hop. If you’re going to play EDM, you need the light show going, or smoke machines.”

10. Still waiting for someone to say something nice about Mike Babcock.

11. The PWHL is going to be interesting to watch. They are forming the top tier women’s professional league — the best that’s ever been — right before our eyes. There will be missteps, to be sure, but they have momentum, goodwill and money behind them.

12. I thought the pc28����Six was a terrific nickname. It should be noted that the PWHL owns everything that the PHF had, including nicknames. So there’s a chance the Six nickname could survive. Speak up if you like it.

13. If Phil Kessel doesn’t get a contract this season, then only three players will remain active who were part of the Leafs’ Game 7 playoff collapse in Boston in 2013: Detroit’s James Reimer, Calgary’s Nazem Kadri and James van Riemsdyk, now with the Bruins.