The modern NHL is no stranger to star players missing extended stretches because of injuries, opening the door for “What if?” frustrations.
As glorious as the last couple years have been for Sidney Crosby, the threat of another concussion looms like Michael Myers in the bushes. Connor McDavid lost half of his rookie season. Carey Price has already dealt with serious issues of his own.
Still, you can forgive Steven Stamkos and Tampa Bay Lightning fans for being especially miffed over the years, as his issues have bordered on the freakish. Stamkos has dealt with blood clots, his most recent right knee injury that required surgery, and broke his tibia after taking this bad-luck spill in 2013:
(Even about four years later, it’s still unsettling to watch Stamkos rapidly become aware of how bad his injury was.)
Stamkos has missed playoff time and saw at least two seasons short-circuited by injuries, as he only played in 17 games in 2016-17 and 37 in 2013-14.
Heading into this season, it was reasonable to try to limit expectations; most athletes struggle in the first year after significant surgeries. Maybe Stamkos will hit a wall at some point, but so far, he’s enjoyed the best start of his career, riding shotgun with budding superstar Nikita Kucherov.
It almost seems fitting, then, that Stamkos scored his 600th regular-season point during the Lightning’s 7-1 beatdown of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Even so, it’s resounding that - with all Stamkos has been through - he’s at that level at 27, and he’s done so in 595 games.
91’s assist on the Sergachev goal clocked in as his 600th @nhl point.
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 22, 2017
Congrats, @RealStamkos91! Words can’t describe having you back. ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/eggKculRkg
Impressive. With this incredible head start of 18 points in nine games, a healthy Stamkos might match or exceed the work he did during his best days earlier in his career. Note how dominant he was from his second through fourth seasons (while Stamkos managed 29 goals and 57 points in the lockout-shortened 2012-2013 season, his fifth):
2009-10: 51 goals, 95 points
2010-11: 45 goals, 91 points
2011-12: 60 goals, 97 points
The other eye-popping stat from that run: he played in all 82 regular-season games in each of those three campaigns.
For some perspective, during the stretch of 2009-10 to 2011-12, Stamkos’ 283 points ranked second in the NHL, with only Henrik Sedins’ 287 ranking higher. His 156 goals easily led all players for that three-year stretch.
If that’s not enough to make you wonder where a healthy Stamkos might rank among the NHL’s upper echelon, consider this: from his sophomore 2009-10 season through today, he’s third in points-per-game among players who’ve played in at least 200, slightly edging Patrick Kane (1.06):
- Sidney Crosby (1.28)
- Evgeni Malkin (1.14)
- Stamkos (1.07)
- Kane (1.06)
- Alex Ovechkin (1.03)
- Nicklas Backstrom/retired Martin St. Louis (1.01)
As you can see, Stamkos ranks among six active players who’ve averaged at least one point-per-game since 2009-10.
Chances are, Stamkos will cool off mainly because, as great as Kucherov is, he’ll settle down a bit too. The Russian winger currently boasts a 29.4 shooting percentage, nearly doubling his already-impressive career average of 15.1 percent.
Still, it’s plausible that Stamkos could enjoy one of the best seasons of his career, and the interesting wrinkle might be that this stupendous sniper may serve as something of a facilitator (he currently has three goals versus 15 assists).
Now, don’t forget that Kucherov has been the catalyst for this burst, even if Stamkos makes this one of the NHL’s most scintillating symbiotic relationships. Hitting the 600-point milestone is merely a friendly reminder that Stamkos shouldn’t get lost in the elite conversation, and that hockey fans should be very, very happy to have him around.
Just stay a while this time, Stamkos. We like seeing you.
(Many stats via the wonderful resource that is Hockey Reference.)
James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.
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