Readers, please be forewarned...
This is one of those posts where we look at a player's early season successes and an award that is given at the end of the year. Opinions are subject to change as the 2017-18 regular season rolls along.
In mid-November of 2016, Steven Stamkos was off to a wonderful start to the season after being sidelined for most of the prior postseason due to blood clots. He had nine goals and 11 assists in 17 games and was demonstrating all of the skills that had made him one of the most dominant players in the entire National Hockey League. Unfortunately, all of that went away in the blink of an eye when he suffered a torn meniscus which kept him off the ice for the rest of the 2016-17 campaign.
As is expected, a lot of chatter started to develop on whether Stamkos would be one of those players with a ton of talent that just could not stay healthy. Heading into this season, the title of best Tampa Bay Lightning player was already being passed along to Nikita Kucherov and many were wondering if Stamkos could ever be that consistently dominant player again.
Now 15 games into the 2017-18 season, the Bolts' captain is having a fantastic start to the year. So much so that he is an early favorite to bring home the Hart Memorial Trophy in June.
The Hart Memorial Trophy goes to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team for a season's entirety. Although he may not be the one scoring 14 goals in 15 game, it is hard to ignore the impact Stamkos has had on his team's early-season success.
The 27-year-old Lightning center has recorded a league-leading 25 points, two ahead of his linemate, Kucherov and four ahead of the next non-Tampa Bay player, Blake Wheeler. Though Stamkos has made a name for himself through his goal-scoring abilities, he is creating a name for himself as a playmaker this season. Currently, he leads the NHL in assists with 18, two ahead of Wheeler.
The goal scoring is still there, recording seven, five of them on the power play. However, Stamkos has adjusted his role to compliment who he is on the ice with, especially Kucherov. He knows to take advantage of his teammate's abilities and get him the puck.
Now as I mentioned before, it is still incredibly early in the regular season. There are a handful of other players, Kucherov included, who are making a case for being the Hart Memorial Trophy winner. Still, the excellence Stamkos has brought to the ice each game must be recognized and that hardware should be his if he can come close to maintaining this level play through the entire season.