Background and career
Steven Stamkos (born February 7, 1990) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward and alternate captain for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Stammer", Stamkos was selected first overall in the 2008 NHL entry draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, and is regarded as both one of the best to have played for and the long-time face of the franchise. Stamkos holds the Lightning franchise record for most goals scored and captained the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021, a potential-but-failed three-peat in 2022, as well as an appearance in the Final games in 2015. Stamkos previously held the Lightning record for points, which stood for four years until broken by Nikita Kucherov in 2026. He is a two-time Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner as the NHL's leading goal-scorer (2010 and 2012), while also the runner-up three other times (in 2011, 2013 and 2015), a Mark Messier Leadership Award winner (2023), a two-time NHL second team All-Star (2011, 2012), and has been named to seven NHL All-Star Games. He has scored the most goals of any player born in the 1990s. He was also a Hart Memorial Trophy finalist in 2012 as the most valuable player to his team as voted by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a two-time Ted Lindsay Award finalist (2011 and 2012) as the best player judged by the National Hockey League Players' Association. In addition, he was the runner-up for the Art Ross Trophy as the leading point-scorer two consecutive times (2012 and 2013).
Stamkos is of Macedonian and Scottish descent. He grew up in Unionville, Ontario, and played for the Markham Waxers in the Eastern AAA Hockey League of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA). During one of his seasons with the North York Canadiens, he was teammates with NHLer P. K. Subban. Stamkos won eight OMHA titles in a row in minor hockey and led his Waxers club to the OHL Cup title in March 2006. He played in the 2003 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Markham Waxers. Stamkos attended Central Park Public School and St. Brother André Catholic High School in Markham, Ontario. After being drafted by the OHL's Sarnia Sting, he attended Northern Collegiate Institute and Vocational School in Sarnia.
Following a season with the minor Waxers in which he scored 197 points over 66 games, Stamkos was selected first overall in the 2006 OHL Draft by the Sarnia Sting. Stamkos played with other notable current and former NHLers in his minor and junior hockey career, including Logan Couture, John Tavares, Michael Del Zotto, Cameron Gaunce, Cody Hodgson, and P. K. Subban during his minor hockey career in the Greater Toronto Area. Joining the Sting in 2006–07, he recorded 92 points (42 goals and 50 assists) over 63 games as a junior rookie. He was named to the OHL Second All-Rookie Team, ranking behind Sam Gagner at the center position. Stamkos also won the Bobby Smith Trophy as the OHL's scholastic player of the year for his academic efforts off the ice. The following season, Stamkos improved to 58 goals and 105 points over 61 games. He was named to the OHL second All-Star team, but was later selected to the CHL first All-Star team, which encompasses all three national major junior leagues. Playing in his NHL draft-eligible season in 2007–08, Stamkos was top-ranked throughout the campaign by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau and International Scouting Services. He also won the CHL's Top Draft Prospect Award.
As the 2008 NHL entry draft approached, Stamkos was largely seen as the best available center. His primary competition for the top overall pick was top prospect defencemen Drew Doughty and Zach Bogosian, as well as Russian winger Nikita Filatov. The Tampa Bay Lightning, by virtue of their previous season in which they won an NHL-worst 31 games, owned the first pick. As expected, Stamkos was selected first overall by Tampa Bay. On July 29, 2008, he signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Lightning in which he could earn as much as $8.55 million in performance bonuses. Leading up to the start of the upcoming 2008–09 season, the Lightning centered their promotional efforts around Stamkos, including a website with the slogan "Seen Stamkos?"
Stamkos played in his first NHL game on October 4, 2008, in Prague, Czech Republic, the first game of the 2008–09 season. The Lightning fell to the New York Rangers 2–1 and were eventually swept in Prague. He recorded his first point – a secondary assist – in his eighth game, on a goal scored by Vincent Lecavalier which was against his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Following the game, Stamkos commented that his hometown support was "louder than when the Leafs scored". He scored his first goal the next game against Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres. After 54 games, Stamkos recorded the first NHL hat-trick of his career, on February 17, 2009. The Lightning held a 3–1 lead midway through the second period on the strength of Stamkos' natural hat-trick, but were still beaten by the visiting Chicago Blackhawks, 5–3. The three goals enabled Stamkos to become the first rookie in Lightning history to score three goals in a game. He also became the second-youngest player in NHL history to record a natural hat-trick; current record-holder Bobby Carpenter was 18 when he scored three on February 25, 1982. Though Stamkos was heavily criticized for his lack of production during the first half of the season, in which he was limited to less than ten minutes of ice time some games (largely due to a dispute amongst then-head coach Barry Melrose and upper management, mainly co-owner Len Barrie on how to approach the development of Stamkos in the NHL), he finished the season with 19 points in his final 20 games. In his rookie season, Stamkos totaled 23 goals, 23 assists and 46 points, as well as a −13 plus-minus rating in 79 games. In the 2009 off-season, Stamkos spent the summer training extensively with newly retired NHL player Gary Roberts, working on adding strength and endurance. Roberts got to know Stamkos as a teammate on the Lightning in the 2008–09 season, his last season in the NHL. He oversaw Stamkos' off-season workouts north of Toronto in Roberts' in-house gym, which is a quick drive from Stamkos' family home in Unionville. Stamkos spoke highly regarding the workouts: "It helped me a lot," Stamkos said. "I learned a lot about what I needed to improve on. There are certain aspects of my game that have improved because of that, and I'll be there again this summer working hard. It definitely gave me that extra jump for this season." In the 2009–10 season, his second year in the NHL, Stamkos began to find his range as an NHL sharpshooter and had a breakout season. Playing the bulk of the season on the first line with Martin St. Louis and Steve Downie, Stamkos started the campaign with 10 goals and five assists for 15 points in his first 11 games. Through mid-January, the entirety of February and mid-March, Stamkos had an 18-game point streak (17 goals and 16 assists for 33 points in all 18 games between January 19, 2010, in a 8–2 loss to the New York Rangers and March 11, in a 4–3 OT loss to his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs). By the time he turned 20 in February 2010, he was in the top five in the NHL in scoring (with 32 goals and 29 assists for 61 points in every game up to that point in the season), challenging the likes of the generational talents of Washington Capitals forward and captain Alexander Ovechkin and Pittsburgh Penguins forward and captain Sidney Crosby. On April 10, the second-to-last day of the season, Stamkos reached the 50-goal mark for the season when he scored two goals against Tampa Bay's inner-state rival, the Florida Panthers. He also recorded an assist on a Martin St. Louis goal in the same game as the Lighting would go on to win the game 4–3 in a shootout. He ended the season with 51 goals, tied for most in the NHL with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins; the two shared the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's goal-scoring leaders; he tied Crosby in the final minute of the last game of the season with an empty-net goal. Stamkos became the third-youngest player to score 50 goals in a season, after Wayne Gretzky and Jimmy Carson. His number of goals (51) was five more than his total points amount in the previous season (46). Additionally, Stamkos' 44 assists gave him 95 points within the season, good for fifth in the NHL behind Henrik Sedin, Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Nicklas Bäckström, respectively. Despite Stamkos’ rise to stardom individually, however, Tampa Bay as a team finished the year 12th in the East with 34 wins and 80 points, eight points out of a playoff spot. After the season, the team's poor record prompted new team owner Jeffrey Vinik to terminate Brian Lawton and Rick Tocchet's contracts as general manager and head coach, respectively.
Stamkos began the 2010–11 season with nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points in the first 10 games. This resulted in him being named the NHL’s first star of the month for the month of October. Following his high-scoring start to the season in which he scored 19 goals (along with 15 assists for 34 points) in his first 19 games, Stamkos began to attract media attention for challenging the elite "50 goals in 50 games" standard. Wayne Gretzky, who scored 50 goals in a record 39 games in 1981–82, told reporters he thought Stamkos was surrounded by enough talent in Tampa Bay to achieve the feat. Gretzky also followed up by saying on Stamkos' individual playing style by saying "He's got tremendous speed and such a quick release. He understands the game and goes into the holes and gets into the right areas." On December 20, 2010, Stamkos scored his 26th goal of the season and the 100th of his career, leading the Lightning past the Carolina Hurricanes 5–1. Stamkos had one of three Lightning goals late in the second period that put Tampa Bay ahead 5–1. The centre's milestone goal came in his 194th NHL game. Stamkos became the sixth player in history (joining Wayne Gretzky, Dale Hawerchuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jimmy Carson and Brian Bellows) to record his first 100 goals before turning the age of 21. In January 2011, Stamkos was named by the NHL to play in the NHL All-Star Game for the first time in his career. Stamkos was drafted second overall by Team Lidstrom, joining teammate Martin St. Louis on the squad. On February 8, 2011, Stamkos recorded his 100th career assist on a goal by Vincent Lecavalier in a 7–4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. As the season progressed it became apparent Stamkos would not achieve the 50-in-50 mark. By the 57th game, he had recorded an NHL-leading 40 goals as well as 34 assists for 74 points. Stamkos' latter portion of the season was markedly less successful; he recorded just five more goals and 12 assists for 17 points in the last 25 games. Finishing the 2010–11 season with 45 goals, he ranked second in NHL scoring, only behind Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks. He also recorded 46 assists for a new career high in assists and 91 points and maintained durability by having played in all 82 games for the second consecutive season. His 91 points placed him fifth in the NHL for the second consecutive season behind Daniel Sedin, linemate Martin St. Louis, Corey Perry and Henrik Sedin, respectively. Stamkos was named a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player in the regular season as judged by the members of the NHL Players' Association alongside Anaheim Ducks' forward Corey Perry and Vancouver Canucks forward Daniel Sedin, which was eventually won by Daniel Sedin. As the Lightning ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference and eighth in the NHL overall to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2007, Stamkos made his Stanley Cup playoff debut on April 13, 2011, against the Pittsburgh Penguins. On April 23, he scored his first two career playoff goals, as well an assist on a Vincent Lecavalier goal, in an 8–2 victory over the Penguins in game five for his first career three-point playoff game. The Lightning overcame a 3–1 series deficit and defeated the fourth-seeded Penguins in seven games and advanced to the second round for the first time since the teams Stanley Cup championship run in 2004 (four years before Stamkos was selected by the team and made his NHL debut) and swept the top-seeded Washington Capitals and eventually clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference Final against the Boston Bruins. In Game two on May 17, Stamkos recorded his second three-point playoff game scoring a goal on Bruins' goaltender Tim Thomas and recording two assists on goals by Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier, respectively. Despite this, the Lighting would lose the game 6–5. In game six on May 25, with the Lightning with a 3–2 series deficit and on the brink of elimination, Stamkos would record his second three point game of the series and third in the playoffs and in his career altogether scoring a goal and adding two assists, both were on goals by Martin St. Louis as the Lightning would go on to win 5–4 to extend the series to a seventh game. During the deciding game seven on May 27, Stamkos took a slapshot from Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk to the face; the impact broke his nose and bloodied his face, forcing him to momentarily leave the game, though he eventually returned wearing a full-caged mask. The Lightning went on to lose the game 1–0 against the third-seeded and eventual Stanley Cup champion Bruins with Bruins forward Nathan Horton scoring the loan goal in the game to lose the series 4–3, eliminating them from the 2011 playoffs, one win short from reaching the Stanley Cup Final. Stamkos ended the playoffs scoring below his regular season pace with 13 points (six goals, seven assists) over all 18 games played during his first playoff year, ranking fifth in team-scoring. Days after the Lightning's elimination from the playoffs, it was revealed that in addition to his broken nose in the seventh game of the third round against the Bruins, Stamkos was playing through a nagging shoulder injury that he initially sustained in the first round against the Penguins.
