Could Steven Stamkos Be Leaving Nashville?
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was on Sirius XM NHL Network on Wednesday and was asked about the struggles of Steven Stamkos in Nashville, and whether he could be on the move.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Scott Laughlin: “Hey, Friedge, we’ll wrap up with this one for you. And this is kind of snuck up on some people, and for some, they’ve just noticed the regression continuing with Steven Stamkos, but he is 25 games away from 1200, he’s 17 goals away from 600 career goals. And yet last night (Tuesday night and every night right now), when you thought, okay, he’s facing his former team, this will get him going. This will get him engaged. It doesn’t happen.
He goes six consecutive games now without a point, and he’s got one goal and two points in his first 12 games this season. Do you have any idea what’s happened with Stamkos? Goes down there. Is it just the supporting cast and lack of depth at center ice? Or what is it that is? Or maybe it’s Father Time, Fridge. I mean, it’ll be 36 in February. What is it with Stamkos that has seen him score, but once with two points in the first 12 games?
Elliotte Friedman: “You know? I just think it’s pretty simple. It just hasn’t worked. I think that’s the simplest way to put it. I think some of it, no question about it is, like, don’t forget, like, Stamkos is a great player with a great shot. In Tampa, he had his spot on the power play, and he had an absolute magician feeding him, yeah.
And one of the things about guys who are goal scorers as great as they are, you need somebody who can get it to you, and just the fit hasn’t been good there and much to, I think, a lot of people’s surprise, including my own. I think you always have to take some responsibility yourself. The problems are never just one way there. It’s always a two way street.
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I know at times, as frustrated as he’s been, they’ve been frustrated too. And I do think that if this doesn’t get better eventually, there’s going to be conversations between the player and the team about what we can do here. He’s got two more years. It’s a big number, but it’s not an unmanageable number. But, I do think at some point in time, there will probably have to be conversations about what are our solutions, because it’s clear it’s not working.
At least right now, there’s always time for it to change. It’s not working for either side. Like the other thing too is that his shot rates are really down. Yeah, so, I mean, it fits Scott, with what you’re talking about. If you’re not shooting as much, you’re probably not going to score as much.
But I think sometimes, to me, like that’s the bigger question, like all scorers go through droughts, but when you’re not even shooting as much, that tells you probably everything you need to know.”
NHLRumors.com Note: As previously written on NHLRumors.com, this isn’t working. It hasn’t worked since day one as the Predators under Barry Trotz tried to bring in two goal scorers with no playmakers.
Friedman on 32 Thoughts on Friday, following up when he said earlier in the week on NHL Network Radio, “it’s not that it’s going to be a trade necessarily, because the trade might not even be worth it for Nashville or Stamkos. But if we’re not heading down the road already, it could happen soon.”
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We saw that when Ryan McDonagh was in Nashville, he wasn’t fully committed to Nashville. He did his best, but he wanted to be mentally in Tampa Bay with the Lightning. Same here for Stamkos, whether anyone wants to admit publicly, Stamkos intends to be back in Tampa Bay. That’s where he wants to finish his career.
The Lightning saw the player regressing, but would have kept him. They get him at a discount; they will bring him back with the talent they have.
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