The legend of Steven Stamkos
Scoring 50 goals in an NHL season is a feat achieved by only the league’s premier scorers (I’m looking at you Jonathan Cheechoo), but the list of names that have managed it twice before their 23rd birthday is a very short one.
Steven Stamkos’ efforts this season mean he has joined that esteemed list comprised of the names Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Joe Nieuwendyk, Pavel Bure and Alex Ovechkin. Those no longer active on the list have all gone on to retire with 400+ goals in their careers and few would bet against Stamkos making it too.
Currently seven goals ahead of Evgeni Malkin on the season, Stamkos is the likely recipient of the Maurice Richard Trophy for the second time in his career as the former number one pick adds to his burgeoning reputation. Whilst he has enjoyed another successful year on a personal level, the Lightning as a team have been a major disappointment as they look set to finish outside the playoff spots by a significant margin.
In his initial season in the major league, Stamkos struggled to live up to the expectations placed upon him, but a strong finish gave him not wholly disappointing stats of 23 goals and 46 points. Sophomore struggles didn’t apply to him however, breaking out for 51 goals which was tied with Sidney Crosby for league high. Last season his 45 goals were only bettered by Corey Perry and add that to this season’s totals where he should make it past 90 points for the third year running and Stamkos has emerged as a consistent over a point a game scorer.
Also impressive is the way his scoring has adapted, during his breakout season he was dominant on the powerplay, particularly from one timers from the high slot. That tactic has since been shut down by opponents and while his powerplay numbers are slightly down the number of even strength goals he is scoring is up. Now he utilises the variation in his shot much more effectively and couple that to going hard to the net and you get a guy who is very difficult to stop.
To give you an idea of how vital Stamkos has been for Tampa, he has scored 24.8% of their goals, which is staggering when you consider the nearest to that is Corey Perry who has 18.5% of Anaheim’s tallies.
When you look at the team as a whole, their offense relies heavily on the top two forward lines dominating, with very little secondary scoring. The main reason for their poor season however would be their goals against record, the worst in the league; it is all the more surprising that it is a very similar team to the one that went to the Eastern Conference Finals just last season.
It’s a shame we won’t see his talents in the playoff arena this year, but expect Steven Stamkos to continue to be a dominant goal scorer in the National Hockey League for the next decade.
P.S. Cheers Steve for carrying my fantasy team this season.
