Heart. Soul. A leader, both on and off the ice. An icon in the community. Steven Stamkos embodied all that it meant to be a Bolt.
In 2008, the Tampa Bay Lightning selected Stamkos first overall. Since then, he’s been one of the best players to don a Bolts jersey. He played over 1,000 games and recorded more than 1,100 points in 16 seasons.
On the power play, Stamkos posed an additional threat to opponents. His patented one-timer from the left side kept opponents guessing. With Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Victor Hedman on the ice with him, opposing teams had to pick their poison when it came to defending the Lightning.
Last season, Stamkos won the NHL’s Mark Messier Leadership Award for the work he’s done with the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay.
Who can forget all of the adversity Stamkos faced and, ultimately, overcame during his time with the Lightning?
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From breaking his tibia in November 2013 to watching his mentor, Martin St. Louis, request a trade to the New York Rangers in 2014, which led to him being named the franchise’s new captain, Stamkos took everything in stride.
A torn ligament in his knee cost him almost an entire season while a late season blood clot limited him to one playoff game in 2015-16’. A core muscle injury contributed to his only being able to play nearly three minutes during the 2020 postseason. In those three minutes, he scored the most iconic goal in team history. That galvanized his teammates who, in turn, went out and won the first of back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Two years later, Stamkos put up 19 points and was a plus-7 in helping the Lightning reach a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final. Unfortunately, they fell short of becoming a modern day dynasty, losing in six games to the Colorado Avalanche.
Sadly, the Lightning weren’t able to reach an agreement before the July 1 start of free agency. As a result, Stamkos left for Music City, signing a four-year deal with the Nashville Predators.
That left many Lightning fans, myself included, stunned and heartbroken. One of the Tampa Bay sports radio hosts said it best when he referred to July 1, 2024, as the darkest day in Tampa Bay sports history.
Putting that aside, thank you to Steven Stamkos for giving us 16 years of memories. Good luck with the Predators, and when the time comes for you to hang up the skates, we hope that you’ll retire as a Bolt. Until then, you’ll always be regarded as a hero in Tampa Bay.
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