The Steven Stamkos Playoffs (Non-)Performance Thread

Should the Bolts Strip Stamkos of the C?


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    216

JoVel

HFBoards Sponsor
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Jan 23, 2017
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Short answer, yes with an if. Long answer, no with a but.
We've seen enough of him to say confidently that he is. He's literally never had a good playoff run and he already has about 70 playoff games. Alex Killorn has been more valuable to us in the playoffs. In our longest playoff run with him, 2015, he was scoreless in 2 of the 4 series, including the finals against the Hawks.
 

The Panther

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
19,114
15,573
Tokyo, Japan
Love Stamkos, but yeah his playoff production resume is a bit lacking. It's not so much the total numbers, which aren't so bad. Before the current series, he had 51 points in 66 games (0.77), vs. a regular season average of 1.03. That's not great, but most players' playoff production will go down 20% or so, so it's reasonable.

But the issue with Stamkos is that he just doesn't seem to bring it when the games/series are on the line. He (and, to be fair, most of the Bolts) just doesn't show up for elimination games. There is one exception -- back when he was 20, Tampa faced elimination against (eventual Cup winner) Boston in game six, and Stamkos delivered 1 goal and 2 assists to help Tampa to the victory.

Since then? It's not pretty. He has since appeared in five "facing elimination" games -- four of them were game sevens -- and this is his stat-line for those five games:
0 goals + 0 assists = 0 points (-2)

I mean, being charitable, nobody but Gretzky puts up big numbers in game sevens, so it's not like you expect a bunch of goals and assists. But we've seen players with less talent than Stamkos -- Trevor Linden comes to mind -- be major studs in game sevens, while Stamkos has (since his final game of 2010-11) been a major dud.

The good news is, here is a fresh chance to redeem himself! The Bolts would have to win four out of five to take the current series, but they've won four out of five numerous times this season. Maybe they've used up all their bad luck, I dunno. But the hockey world is watching to see if Stamkos can elevate his team this time. The window on his prime years is getting smaller.
 

sr edler

gold is not reality
Mar 20, 2010
11,848
6,290
Choker is a silly term, with Stamkos it's just that his game isn't very well suited for the playoffs. He doesn't drive the play much at all (Kucherov and/or Hedman does), and even less so after his leg injury, and he's way too PP dependent. This situation (being down 0-2 against CBJ) reminds me of the 2011 Canucks which also had a dominating regular season but showed suspect team dynamics when the push came to shove in the playoffs (both against Chicago and Boston).
 
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Howie Hodge

Zombie Woof
Sep 16, 2017
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Buffalo, NY
He and Kucherov will be traded this off season

Toilets will start flushing clockwise.


To be honest, I liked Tampa Bay.

But having seen the whiny - knee jerk reactions to the series from their fans on HF, I'm now rooting for Columbus so they go away, and hopefully soon.
 

PuckSeparator

Registered User
May 18, 2014
2,698
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Pretty simple question. Stamkos underachieves in the playoffs... A LOT. And generally you want your leaders to be the guys that elevate their game the most when the hockey matters most. Pretty clear at this point that Stamkos might never have that second or third gear needed to win the playoffs.

Since Cooper just signed an extension and is 100% not going anywhere, the Bolts will have to shake things up if they exit the POs in embarrassing fashion, which isn't super unlikely at this point. Outside of trades, changing the C might be the only option.

Should they strip Stamkos of the C and give to a guy like Point?
 
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Styles

No Light, No Signal
Apr 6, 2017
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C8481E41-6B71-4701-874D-EB351571721F.png
 

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