Steven Stamkos Continues To Kick So Much Ass
I could be off here and it sounds crazy saying this, but I feel like Steven Stamkos might be the most under-appreciated future Hall of Famer in the league. It's tough because he came into the NHL during the middle of Crosby and Ovechkin taking the sport over. Then his career stretched into guys like McDavid and Matthews taking over. So there's never really been a moment in time when the NHL was Steven Stamkos' league. Especially when you factor in all the injury struggles he's dealt with in his career.
But while he's never really had a time where the league was his, last night he had his moment to claim the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise to himself after he became the team's all-time leading point scorer. In vintage Stammer fashion, no less.
956 career points in just 917 career games. Could you imagine where this animal would be at if he had a few more full seasons under his belt? He's a 2x Stanley Cup Champion. A 2x Rocket Richard winner. The last player to score 60 goals in a season until Matthews does it at some point over this weekend. And for the most part...again maybe I'm just totally off base here but I still feel like a guy who has accomplished all that and has produced at over a point per game throughout his entire gets overlooked sometimes. Either way, what a goal to seal the record with. But even his signature one-T on the power play gets overshadowed by Ovechkin's. Tough break for Steven Stamkos in that regard, but I'm sure the 2 Stanley Cup rings helps to ease the pain.