Special teams will always be crucial to the outcome of games but... with penalties on the decline seemingly year after year lately and so many teams playing very structured, defense-first systems... it seems like even strength scoring is at a premium.
Last year, with two teams, Lee Stempniak scored 15 even strength goals (27 points). That was the exact same number of ESGs as Alex Steen and Gabriel Landeskog. It was more than the likes of Nicklas Backstrom (14), Justin Williams (14), Wayne Simmonds (14), Daniel and Henrik Sedin (13 apiece), Ryan O'Reilly (13), Bobby Ryan (13), Jason Spezza (13), Joe Thornton (12), Henrik Zetterberg (12), Jaromir Jagr (12), Kyle Okposo (12), Taylor Hall (11), Nathan McKinnon (11), Anze Kopitar (10), Valterri Filppula (10), Brayden Schenn (10), Jakub Voracek (9), Claude Giroux (9), Mikko Koivu (9), Shane Doan (9) and a host of other prominent players.
Stempniak's ESG total was only one less than Phil Kessel (16), James van Riemsdyk (16), Johhny Gaudreau (16) and Eric Staal (16) and two less than Ryan Johansen (17), Jeff Carter (17), Pavel Datsyuk (17), Sean Monahan (17), Jeff Carter (17) and Alex Galchenyuk (17).
Nevertheless, here we are on Labor Day and Stempniak is still without an NHL contract for next season. What I have heard is that he HAS had offers for one-year contracts but not necessarily the right fit. Likewise, multiple teams have interest in bringing the veteran in on a training camp tryout... no guarantees, but a good shot at landing a deal.
Don't be surprised if his situation is one of the first to clear up this week among the UFAs that are still sitting on the market.