Player Discussion: Steven Stamkos - Part 9: 500 Goals & 1,100 Points and counting Edition

[LightningStrikes]

Stamkos was involved in 32 of our 87 goals for so far (assist or goal) though. That’s more than a third. And he has the lowest TOI average among the top-15 scorers in the league (read: he’s highly efficient). Not sure we’d be where we are right now without him or rather two guys at $4.25M cap hit could compensate for his production (and the guy the second one would replace).

The main question will once again be: Can he stay healthy?

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

I feel like he reached this level 3-4 years ago. The knock on Stamkos has always been his playoff performances, where, at best, he's been a solid secondary scorer. I would love to see him turn that around, like he has so many things in his career. Having Stamkos play elite-level, or near elite, hockey in the playoffs would make us damn near unstoppable for the foreseeable future.

I mean it's an neverending cycle. Stamkos has a good regular season and people love him, then playoffs come around and people start wondering if we need this guy or not. I love Stamkos but I also think we could easily find player(s) for that 8.5m that would be a bigger help when playoffs start.

That said, love to have him here and I hope he retires a Lightning.

I suppose the real question then is just how healthy has he been during those playoff runs. That he's always battling injury towards the end of the season is no secret by this point, so how much those have affected him might be relevant to know. OTOH, does it matter? It only means the odds suggest he's likely to be short of 100% health by the time the playoffs roll around this year as well.

That being said, we're placing emphasis on playoff performance, and rightfully so given our expectations right now, but Stamkos being on fire to begin this season just by itself is going to have gone a long way towards helping us (hopefully) have a smooth regular season into the playoffs to begin with this year. With the roster turnover + Kucherov and Point's injuries, this could've been a really rocky first few months, but Stamkos being a 100-point player in the early going has spared us of that.

 

[Hoek]

Yeah in this case at least we should be appreciative for him playing a big role in keeping us in solid playoff pace. He's been critical this season.

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[BowDownToVasilevskiy]

Would love to see him represent Canada again, would be cool especially alongside Point and Cooper. I understand why players would also not want to go, those protocols in China seem rather extreme. Players have missed the chance to represent their countries in terms of international hockey at the biggest stage. I'm only not including the yearly IIHF world championships in this discussion as it seems like more of a secondary tournament for those who are not in the NHL playoffs. World juniors tournament still very strong and is always exciting to watch.

 

[Hoek]

I still don't know why IIHF insists on having yearly world championships at the same time as NHL playoffs instead of a proper Hockey World Cup (not that NHL created one that's completely arbitrary). Would solve all this "will they won't they" Olympics melodrama we get every 4 years. The way soccer does it by completely disentangling themselves from the Olympics and carving out time in the schedule for international tournaments is preferable.

 

[JoVel]

I still don't know why IIHF insists on having yearly world championships at the same time as NHL playoffs instead of a proper Hockey World Cup (not that NHL created one that's completely arbitrary). Would solve all this "will they won't they" Olympics melodrama we get every 4 years. The way soccer does it by completely disentangling themselves from the Olympics and carving out time in the schedule for international tournaments is preferable.

It's strange, the World Championships being the most followed sporting event the whole year in Finland. No one talks about anything anything else when they're on. And then I read stuff here and North Americans barely know they're going on.

Been a while since I cared a whole lot about them either but I'll get into the mood if my country's doing well.

 

[Hoek]

It's strange, the World Championships being the most followed sporting event the whole year in Finland. No one talks about anything anything else when they're on. And then I read stuff here and North Americans barely know they're going on.

Been a while since I cared a whole lot about them either but I'll get into the mood if my country's doing well.

Yeah I've definitely gotten the sense that it's more of a European event with North America as an afterthought. Seems like a huge missed opportunity and while I understand the history of the Olympics, there's no inherent logical reason the premier event has to be the Olympic tournament (and why help the scummy IOC anyway?). I feel like if USA had never scored that huge upset win in 1980 then nobody here would really care about it. What matters is the peak level competition, not the stage.

 

[Flat Ronnie]

If Ovi wasn't putting up a million points, Stamkos would probably be considered for the Hart.

 

[BowDownToVasilevskiy]

It's strange, the World Championships being the most followed sporting event the whole year in Finland. No one talks about anything anything else when they're on. And then I read stuff here and North Americans barely know they're going on.

Been a while since I cared a whole lot about them either but I'll get into the mood if my country's doing well.

Yeah I've definitely gotten the sense that it's more of a European event with North America as an afterthought. Seems like a huge missed opportunity and while I understand the history of the Olympics, there's no inherent logical reason the premier event has to be the Olympic tournament (and why help the scummy IOC anyway?). I feel like if USA had never scored that huge upset win in 1980 then nobody here would really care about it. What matters is the peak level competition, not the stage.

Yes, it's honestly a shame that the world championships are every year. I watched some world championships before but only because they occurred in the morning or afternoon and that was different. Wish there was a good international tournament every 4 years or so which featured top stars of the game but I still enjoy the world juniors as a yearly tournament just because it's kind of a prospect showcase

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[Flat Ronnie]

Wonder what the PPG breakdown is for all those guys.

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Joseph and Palat enjoying that shift as much as we all did

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

Wonder what the PPG breakdown is for all those guys.

You know what I hate?

So I read your post about 15 minutes ago and thought what you wrote indicated what you thought their power play stats and breakdowns were. So you know what I spent those last 15 minutes doing? Going to all of their Hockey Reference pages, splitting their power play goals and assists from their overall numbers, and then checking their percentages of goals, assists, and overall points scored on the power play in their careers, so that I could come back and answer this question.

Now I come back, read this again, and now I read it as I think you actually intended - "points per game" breakdown for these guys during their careers.

Well, guess what? I didn't do all that work for nothing, so here's the breakdowns of their power play stat percentages for their careers, accurate as of Dec. 17, 2021:

Ovechkin: 1367 NHL points (752G/615A) -- PP: 274G/235A
Crosby: 1343 (490/853) -- PP: 145G/341A
Kane: 1112 (411/701) -- PP: 113G/244A
Malkin: 1104 (424/680) -- PP: 153G/265A
Thornton: 1055 (251/804) - PP:87G/315A (career: 428G/1106A and PP: 145G/402A)
Kopitar: 1026 (355/671) -- PP: 101G/267A
Getzlaf: 1003 (280/723) -- PP: 85G/251A
Backstrom: 981 (258/723) -- PP: 79G/318A
Bergeron: 940 (385/555) -- PP: 118G/176A
Stamkos: 900 (452/448) -- PP: 170G/151A

Goals percentage:
Stamkos: 37.6%
Ovechkin: 36.4%
Malkin: 36.1%
Thornton: 34.7% w/SJ -- 33.9% career
Bergeron: 30.6%
Backstrom: 30.6%
Getzlaf: 30.3%
Crosby: 29.6%
Kopitar: 28.5%
Kane: 27.5%

Assists percentage:
Backstrom: 44%
Crosby: 40%
Kopitar: 39.8%
Malkin: 39%
Thornton: 39.2% w/SJ -- 36.3%
Ovechkin: 38.2%
Kane: 34.8%
Getzlaf: 34.7%
Stamkos: 33.7%
Bergeron: 31.7%

Overall points:
Backstrom: 40.5%
Malkin: 37.9%
Ovechkin: 37.2%
Crosby: 36.1%
Kopitar: 35.9%
Stamkos: 35.7%
Thornton: 35.7% (career)
Getzlaf: 33.5%
Kane: 32.1%
Bergeron: 31.3%

 

[DFC]

I suppose the real question then is just how healthy has he been during those playoff runs. That he's always battling injury towards the end of the season is no secret by this point, so how much those have affected him might be relevant to know. OTOH, does it matter? It only means the odds suggest he's likely to be short of 100% health by the time the playoffs roll around this year as well.

That being said, we're placing emphasis on playoff performance, and rightfully so given our expectations right now, but Stamkos being on fire to begin this season just by itself is going to have gone a long way towards helping us (hopefully) have a smooth regular season into the playoffs to begin with this year. With the roster turnover + Kucherov and Point's injuries, this could've been a really rocky first few months, but Stamkos being a 100-point player in the early going has spared us of that.

Agreed that, especially this year, Stamkos remaining elite in the regular season has been vital. Weirdly enough, it could be the difference between us vying for 1st in the league, and fighting for a playoff spot. (Can anybody picture us in a playoff spot right now without Stamkos? I certainly can't.)

But I do think this has been more/less his game for 4-5 years. He's still an elite player until the post-season rolls around, at which point we've never seen him come close to dominate the way we've seen with the other four franchise players on the team (how lucky are we, right?). The big difference between this year and previous years is, after the roster turnover, those key injuries would REALLY have hurt us if Stamkos weren't playing like a top-5ish center in the league. If Kucherov or Point go down in the playoffs, I don't have as much faith that Stamkos can fill their shoes, even while he can often be more dominant than either of them (more often Point; less often Kucherov) in the regular season.

All the same, as Stamkos gets older, and as the cap goes up, I think the expectations will gradually lower in the playoffs for him. I don't think we need him to keep pace with Kucherov and Point to be satisfied now, even if, by regular season measures, he should be able to. If he's at or above Killorn's numbers, I don't think most of us will be dissatisfied. It just is what it is at this point, and he's going to the HOF either way.

 

[BoltzManConstant]

Agreed that, especially this year, Stamkos remaining elite in the regular season has been vital. Weirdly enough, it could be the difference between us vying for 1st in the league, and fighting for a playoff spot. (Can anybody picture us in a playoff spot right now without Stamkos? I certainly can't.)

But I do think this has been more/less his game for 4-5 years. He's still an elite player until the post-season rolls around, at which point we've never seen him come close to dominate the way we've seen with the other four franchise players on the team (how lucky are we, right?). The big difference between this year and previous years is, after the roster turnover, those key injuries would REALLY have hurt us if Stamkos weren't playing like a top-5ish center in the league. If Kucherov or Point go down in the playoffs, I don't have as much faith that Stamkos can fill their shoes, even while he can often be more dominant than either of them (more often Point; less often Kucherov) in the regular season.

All the same, as Stamkos gets older, and as the cap goes up, I think the expectations will gradually lower in the playoffs for him. I don't think we need him to keep pace with Kucherov and Point to be satisfied now, even if, by regular season measures, he should be able to. If he's at or above Killorn's numbers, I don't think most of us will be dissatisfied. It just is what it is at this point, and he's going to the HOF either way.

Yeah, we are like an eyelash away from having about 40% less points. If we were a little bit worse, all these OT wins and loser points could be zeros. We've needed Stammer to be what he's been.

(I pulled the 40% out of my ass, but it feels about right.)

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

another achievement unlocked

 

[BowDownToVasilevskiy]

another achievement unlocked

Can't wait for him to unlock the threepeat achievement in June 2022

 

[Point21]

 

[The Macho King]

I mean - 48 even strength goals is the highest since like 91 or something wasn't it? Not terribly shocking.

 

[Outl4w]

Stamkos has really stepped up and elevated his game to a new level since his injuries. He will never be that player, but this Stamkos this year is a franchise player instead of an allstar.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

25. Jeremy Roenick- 184
26. Dale Hawerchuk - 182
27. Mike Bossy - 180
28. Michel Goulet - 179
Mark Messier - 179
30. Jean Beliveau - 173
Ray Bourque - 173
32. Steven Stamkos - 172

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[LightningStrikes]

So I didn’t follow the ASG selection process at all but as I take it Stamkos wasn’t nominated. Is that right?

He’s currently 6th in points, 11th in goals, carried our offense with Kuch and Point out, lead the team to the top position in the East once again. He’s also 30th all-time in NHL powerplay goals now.

Any chance he still makes it - other than as an replacement?