Stamkos

[Brewin Flames]

 

Appreciating Steven Stamkos’ ability to remain an elite producer

By Adam Gretz Jan 31, 2022, 3:44 PM EST

 

Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images

•  

It would be unfair, and probably a little ridiculous, to call Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos “underrated.”

 

Not only because he has clearly been one of the best players of his era, but because the underrated label has become mostly meaningless in hockey discussions. It usually is just another way of saying, “this player is really good but I do not watch their team all that much.”

 

But there might be an argument to be made that Stamkos’ career has been taken for granted a little bit. And still is.

 

Not only has he spent his entire career playing in the shadows of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, the two players that have defined this era, but he also had a significant chunk of his prime years taken away by significant injuries that have cut into his career goal and point totals.

It is worth mentioning all of this because he is still rolling along as a dominant player for the Lightning and putting together another outstanding season. Entering play on Monday he is pacing the Lightning with 51 points in 44 games and still doing his part to lead an offense that has spent most of the season without Brayden Point and/or Nikita Kucherov. Just shy of his 32nd birthday he is still on a pace for close to 40 goals and 100 points over an 82-game season. It is not quite as age-defying as what somebody like, say, Ovechkin is doing for the Capitals, but it is still above what the overwhelming majority of players in their 30s can consistently produce.

 

 

Barring significant injury, he is going to eclipse the 500-goal mark sometime early next season and still be on track to reach 600 (and beyond) for his career. That is no small accomplishment in this era. He has been without question the second-best goal scorer of this generation and, quite literally, one of the all-time best.

 

His career goals per game mark of 0.52 is currently the 18th best mark in NHL history. He is one of only four players in the top-35 of that category that made their NHL debut after the 2000 season, joining only Ovechkin (sixth), Auston Matthews (seventh), and Connor McDavid (30th).

 

What stands out about his career goal total (currently at 459) is that when he was at his peak as a goal scorer he was missing the most significant part of his career due to injury (and a lockout). Between the 2012-13 and 2016-17 seasons, his age 22-26 seasons, he played more than 40 games in just two of the five seasons.

 

The 2012-13 season was cut in half by a lockout.

 

He played just 37 games during the 2013-14 season due to a leg injury.

 

He missed the end of the 2015-16 season and all of the playoffs due to a blood clot issue.

 

His 2016-17 season was limited to just 17 games due to another leg injury.

 

During those five seasons he was averaging a 45-goal per 82-game pace. With better health (and labor relations) luck it is not a stretch to think that he could have scored 70-80 goals during that stretch and already been closing in on the 600-goal mark while also already topping 1,000 points. He should still eventually get there, it will just take a little longer and put a dent in his overall career numbers.

 

The “what if” game is one that has been played in sports many times over, and it is one that gets asked often in hockey with players whose careers have been derailed by injury (especially in this era with Sidney Crosby whose prime years were also robbed by injury). But we sometimes seem to forget about it with Stamkos.

 

Either way, he has been one of the league’s most dominant offensive players since his second season in the league and he is still going strong for one of the league’s best teams, one that just so happens to have a chance to make history with a potential three-peat as Stanley Cup champions.

Since the start of the 2009-10 season (Stamkos’ second season, where he really hit his stride as a player) there has been a very clear hierarchy of NHL goal scorers.

1. Alex Ovechkin

 

Big gap.

 

2. Steven Stamkos

 

Big gap.

 

3. Everybody else in the NHL.

 

During that time period Stamkos, who trails only Ovechkin in goals, has a 55-goal edge over every other player in the league. John Tavares and Patrick Kane, the third-and fourth-leading goal scorers during that stretch, have both played in 100 more regular season games.

 

In some ways he is a lot like this generation’s Mike Bossy: An elite offensive player and goal scorer that is among the all-time greats but simply had their career mostly overshadowed by two other generational players (Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux to Bossy; Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin to Stamkos).

 

(A fun trivia fact to go with that comparison is both players won exactly two goal scoring crowns in their careers, both coming in their second and fourth seasons respectively.)

 

As far as No. 1 overall picks go Stamkos has more than exceeded the hype and expectation in Tampa Bay.

 

He became a superstar, a key foundation piece for a team that has been at or near the top of the NHL for his entire career, and he helped bring championships to the city, all while (to this point) playing entirely for the same team that picked him.

 

Maybe not quite on the level of Crosby or Ovechkin, but definitely the next tier right below. He is still going strong. Appreciate it for what it has been, and what it still is.

[Brewin Flames]

This article is 100% correct....

 

Imagine if his prime years were not  cut short, his stats would be insane, just quietly goes about his business, mostly unnoticed.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

All likely true about his numbers.... injuries, robbing him of milestones that should have come sooner.

But it is what it is, and I like to look at some of the silver linings in Stamkos' career that came about BECAUSE he was so injury riddled.
For one, I think as a player and leader on the ice for his team, it has given him an even greater appreciation for the game he loves. There were many people squawking about how "Stamkos is getting paid to do nothing, he isn't too worried about it" and such nonsense.

One could see in interviews and in his face, he was not at all liking to be be sideline while his teammates played on. That's not the kind of guy he is.
And when he won that first Cup, he was happy, but when he won that second one...oh my.
You can tell he felt he EARNED that one just a bit more because he was more part of the team's run for it.

Secondly, because of lessened playtime, Stamkos' body (which he is reputed to always keep in great shape) has less wear n tear on it. Thus, even at age 32, barring any further catastrophical incidents, he may still have the 'tire treads' of someone in their late 20's, which in turn, should allow him to continue to be an NHL productive player much later into his career...let's say, age 37 and 38, even if he is no longer elite at that point.

But to me, in watching him since he started his NHL career that stands out the most about his career, his playstyle, and what he brings to the table, is how highly adaptive he has become.
Oh, sure.... his offense pretty much still revolves around his patented one timer from 'his office' around the face off dots in the circles, but it is his play AWAY from the puck that gets very, very little press, yet is is just as important to his team's success.

He can often be seen backchecking or dropping back to play like a defenseman would. He isn't afraid to run into people and play a grinder type role if need be.
He will involve himself in scrums, and although he isn't a fighter, still will not allow himself or his teammates to be pushed around on the ice.

He still carries one of the better FOW percentages in the league the last several years, usually being very comfortably above the 50% win mark.
Interestingly, his face off numbers became better as his pure goal scoring diminished a bit..... what I believe to be a turning point where he knew he had to expand his overall game to continue to stay playing at a high level and be a reason his team succeeds.

And Stammer does all these things while protecting the puck reasonably well to elite status levels.....his giveaway numbers for the games he plays in any given season are pretty low.
He says the right things in the media without sounding phony.... he seems to have a good rapport with the officials where the stripes seem to listen to his case/side of the story even if Stamkos disagrees (or they aren't gonna change their minds anyways), without dinging him or a teammate of his for an extra unsportsmanlike for showing anyone up.
Oh, and let's not forget, he took less money to stay in TB (8.5M cap hit) when he could easily gone elsewhere and gotten himself something in the 9-10M per range.

He was smart enough to know he already was on a team that gave him the best chance to win, and by taking less, that allowed the team to keep other players around probably longer than they should have been able to......and this has also had the side effect of veteran players willing to come to TB, play for less money (because if Stammer will take less than his market value, they can too), for a chance to win.

Most people that just look at a stat sheet and don't watch the player may feel Stammer is in decline....hell, at one point they even had ME believing that hype.....but in really watching what he does on the ice and off, one can truly see that while his offensive numbers still remain pretty good as the article suggested, it is his play in other areas of the ice that has kept him an important piece to the team's success, many ways in which I am sure the average fan doesn't see, but his teammates certainly know all too well.

Looking forward to Steven Stamkos finally getting into stat clubs with milestones that will put him with the very best of the business in the coming years.
Even better, hoping for at LEAST one more Cup to add to his resume......more than that if the stars align just right for him and the Lightning.

Truly a great overall, multi-faceted player now, who also still happens to be pretty good at what put him on the map in the first place...offense.

[lynxrattle]

If Stamkos had played in Canada, he'd be all over the media. It stinks, but it is what is, if hockey doesn't get more popular in non-traditional areas.

[radoran]

32 minutes ago, lynxrattle said:

It stinks, but it is what is, if hockey doesn't get more popular in non-traditional areas.

 

FWIW, Tampa is currently the #1 attendance team in the NHL. (the obvious caveat is the number of zero attendance games from Canadian teams this year, but Tampa is still selling out).

 

The short truth of the matter is that hockey doesn't get anywhere near the same coverage in the States as it does in the Great White North.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

1 hour ago, lynxrattle said:

If Stamkos had played in Canada, he'd be all over the media. It stinks, but it is what is, if hockey doesn't get more popular in non-traditional areas.

 

Thankfully, it was John Tavares and NOT Steven Stamkos that took that plunge into Canadian territory and into the almighty "center of the universe" in Toronto.

Johnny Pajamas now has his name all over the media (a far cry from that obscurity on Gilligan's Island) and about as famous as one can hope in the NHL.
But somehow, someway, I think Stamkos sleeps better at night, NOT as famous, with his Stanley Cup rings by his bedside on a 55 degree F night than Tavares does wrapped in his cute Toronto Maple Leaves® trappings.  

Edited February 1, 2022 by TropicalFruitGirl26

[Brewin Flames]

2 hours ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Oh, and let's not forget, he took less money to stay in TB (8.5M cap hit) when he could easily gone elsewhere and gotten himself something in the 9-10M per range.

He was smart enough to know he already was on a team that gave him the best chance to win, and by taking less, that allowed the team to keep other players around probably longer than they should have been able to......and this has also had the side effect of veteran players willing to come to TB, play for less money (because if Stammer will take less than his market value, they can too), for a chance to win.

Truly a great overall, multi-faceted player now, who also still happens to be pretty good at what put him on the map in the first place...offense.

 

 

So what you are saying is that Stamkos is the Tom Brady of the NHL...

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

1 minute ago, Brewin Flames said:

 

 

So what you are saying is that Stamkos is the Tom Brady of the NHL...

 

Well, not exactly. 
I mean, to my knowledge, he never deflated pucks or used Ipads to know what he other bench was up to.  

[Brewin Flames]

Lol...Touche.

[Brewin Flames]

I wrote an article about Stamkos for the bleacher report, 10 years ago or so , back in my blogging/writing attempting days, can't log into my account, but it was a "seen" Stamkos title, about his ability to be a quiet assassin, and be lethal and undetected....those words still ring true, he's a player that always seems to go unnoticed, yet people are amazed when they take a deep look at his numbers.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Brewin Flames

[NHL HHOF]

IS TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING CAPTAIN STEVEN STAMKOS UNDERRATED?

Steven Stamkos recorded his 1,000th NHL point at the beginning of December. Adam Proteau explains why the Lightning captain is on track to the Hall of Fame.

https://thehockeynews.com/news/is-tampa-bay-lightning-captain-steven-stamkos-underrated

Edited December 26, 2022 by NHL HHOF