Am I the only one not close to sold on Stamkos as a center? For a guy that made his name as a goal scoring winger, and has had negative defensive metrics his whole career, I'm really suspicious of paying him and playing him as a no.1 center.
Anyone watch TB enough recently to chime in?
I watch 70+ Tampa games a year plus playoffs as they're my number two team. Stammer's game honestly would fit better on a wing but for better or worse he's a center. He wants to be a center and is very unhappy whenever he is moved. Part of the reason he might leave Tampa is that Cooper seems to want to move him to wing and has done so at times. Stamkos then voices his discontent and is eventually moved back.
From a defensive standpoint I think Stammer is actually a little underrated. He doesn't have a ton of natural ability on the defensive end but he's very committed to that aspect of his center duties. He is occasionally caught out of position or beat by a forward but he's giving 110% in his own end.
I'm also not sold on Stamkos, however I don't question his center ability but instead that he's a franchise player. Before the broken leg he was arguably the best player in the league. He deserved to be in the Crosby-Ovie conversation much more than he was and I think he'd have picked up a couple of Hart trophies if he played on an original six team or up north.
His shot was lethal and he did an incredible job streaking down the ice with the puck to let loose. When He picked it up in his own zone and had a bit of space in front of him he'd look like He was fired out of a cannon, blow past the defense and rip a wrist shot across the goal top shelf. He looked unstoppable doing this. He was also so good at roaming the offensive zone to find open space for his one timer. His ability to cycle and pivot at high speeds was very impressive. He was a threat to score every single time he touched the puck.
Then he broke his leg and his game changed tremendously. He lost the speed that he's always used to beat defenders. His puck ability isn't good enough to beat opponents either (never has been really) so he can't be relied on to carry the puck...at all. Zone entries in particular are painful to watch. He either loses the puck or turns back before the blue line before passing it off to a teammate that's capable of entering the zone.
Luckily the classic Stammer one-timer from the circles remained mostly effective. Teams cover him well and he's lost some of his elusiveness and more of his shots are getting blocked. Still his slap shot finds its mark more often than not, is very hard and very fast. He releases it with almost no delay which is a huge key to his success IMO. Goalies really struggle to stop it even when they have enough time to get across.
This brings us to the blood clot though. The pre-blood clot, post-broken leg Stamkos is an elite player IMO.His shot is still so good to cover up his other deficiencies. Without the clot I think he'd be worth a 7×7 deal and I'd give him a 7×9 because the wings are starved for talent and you have to overpay for a star like this.
However this injury is very worrisome. He had a rib removed and has to change the form for his slap shot. He can't rely on his arms as much and has to pull some of his power from his upper back. It might work but if Stamkos's shot is ten percent worse he his not going to be a good player to have. Also these clots have a tendency to be recurring especially in people who work out a lot which being a hockey player...Stammer does. Honestly signing Stamkos to a 7×9 deal is a risky gamble that's a bad idea IMO. Signing him to the 7×11 contract he wants is a terrible idea. If we get him (which according to the insiders is a very real possibility) I'll suck it up and hope that I'm wrong. I'd love to have 60 goal dominant Steven Stamkos on this team, but I expect to have a very different player out there.