TORONTO — Steven Stamkos is a thinker and a student of the game, so it’s difficult for him to avoid reflecting on his place in hockey history as he approaches another major milestone. He often says the time for reflection is later, maybe when he’s done playing, and he doesn’t plan on that time coming soon.
But the more time you spend around the Lightning forward, you realize how much it all means to him because of the reverence he has for the game and how he feels lucky to still be part of it, which is probably why he has fought so hard through several devastating injuries to ensure he’s still able to play at an elite level 15 seasons into his NHL career.
He has a good memory. He can pull details from practically every goal he has scored —where it was, who was on the ice, how it played out, how it felt. Stamkos clearly loves the sport. Now, after becoming the first Lightning player to tally 1,000 points, he is three goals shy of becoming the 47th player in NHL history to score 500 goals. When he hits that mark, he’ll join Washington’s Alex Ovechkin and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby as the only active players to reach the milestone.
