There's no doubt that Lightning C Steven Stamkos is a lethal offensive weapon. After finishing with 23 goals and 23 assists in his rookie year, he doubled his overall point total in his 2nd season with 51 goals and 44 assists. Right now, Stamkos is on pace for 65 goals and 53 assists, which would be an improvement on his previous season's totals again. It's time to start classifying Stamkos in the same class as Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. This may sound crazy but, there are similarities in their career paths.
Stamkos is in his 3rd season in the NHL. Ovechkin missed the playoffs his first two seasons before losing a tough 7-game series against Philadelphia in the 1st round in his 3rd season. Ovechkin's point total dropped slightly from his rookie season to his sophomore season, but Stamkos had five more goals in his 2nd season and a 3 point edge on total points. Stamkos is on pace to match Ovie's 3rd season goal total but have 6 more assists. Stamkos also missed the playoffs in his first two seasons.
If you're the Lightning, you hope that #91's career path follows #87's. Crosby missed the playoffs his first season, lost in the 1st round in his sophomore year, and then lost to the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals in his 3rd season. Crosby's point total is astronimcal in his first two seasons compared to Stamkos' (39-63-102 & 36-84-120). Crosby is more of a set-up guy where as Stamkos and Ovechkin are more keen on lighting the lamp. Crosby's point total took a dip in his 3rd season (24-48-72), but he only played 53 games that season due to injury. Crosby also had a great supporting cast (Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Marc Andre-Fleury, Brooks Orpik, Ryan Malone, Jordan Staal, etc) around him for his Stanley Cup run. Stamkos has a very good supporting cast in guys like Martin St. Louis, Vinny Lecavalier, Malone, Brett Clark, Victor Hedman and Simon Gagne.
This season is still very young and a lot of things can happen between now and mid-April. But the Lightning have the look of a playoff team and could be a very tough out if they improve their goaltending. Steve Stamkos is the main reason the Lightning would be a scary 1st-round opponent and needs to start getting mentioned more often in the same breath as Ovechkin and Crosby.
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