When it was announced on Saturday that Steven Stamkos would miss six to eight weeks with a core muscle injury, there was an initial feeling among those who follow the Tampa Bay Lightning, that it was a good thing that Tampa Bay picked up Barclay Goodrow from the San Jose Sharks and Blake Coleman from the New Jersey Devils at the trade deadline. However, let’s not kid ourselves. The loss of Stamkos could be significant and definitely linger into the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, based on the time frame Tampa Bay is currently projecting.
Stamkos is an offensive force. Even at the age of 30, Stamkos can be a difference maker. In 57 games, Stamkos has 29 goals, 37 assists and 66 points. He is a +14 with 22 penalty minutes, 19 power play points, six game winning goals, 176 shots on goal, 365 faceoff wins, 38 blocked shots, 69 hits, 24 takeaways and 33 giveaways.
When it comes to Lightning scoring, Stamkos is second on the team and is only behind Nikita Kucherov, who has 80 points. Simply put, Stamkos is needed for Tampa Bay to meet expectations and help Lightning fans forget about the disastrous playoff run from a year ago.
There is still some offense for Tampa Bay. In addition to Kucherov, they have Brayden Point, Alex Killorn, Anthony Cirelli, Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson. Tampa Bay also has received offensive production from defensemen Victor Hedman, Kevin Shattenkirk and Mikhail Sergachev. It also helps that Andrei Vasilevskiy has been spectacular between the pipes and is proving that his Vezina Trophy win from a year ago was no fluke.
To think that the Lightning will not miss Stamkos is crazy. When you add the numbers this season of Coleman and Goodrow, they have a combined total of 29 goals and 29 assists for 58 points. Still, that is eight points less than what Stamkos has put together on his own this season.
Tampa Bay is currently second in the East with 87 points. They are nine points back of the first place Boston Bruins.
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