Crosby. Toews. Stamkos. The case for the Lightning star on the Mount Rushmore of cap-era captains

DENVER—While the word dynasty is going around when describing the Tampa Bay Lightning, the man at the centre is their captain, Steven Stamkos.

And if they win their third Stanley Cup in a row, he could well go down as the greatest captain of the NHL’s salary-cap era.

That mantle is probably held by Sidney Crosby with his three Cups, two of them back-to-back. The leadership of Jonathan Toews is often cited as the reason the Blackhawks won three times over six seasons. Ditto Dustin Brown and the two over three seasons with the Los Angeles Kings.

“I think a lot of times when guys are going through greatness, like Stamkos is, we don’t quite put him in that category because what those other guys did was so great,” said NHL analyst Brian Lawton, Stamkos’s general manager for his first two seasons. “The reality is that as time passes, he will definitely be talked about that way.”

Lawton, like Stamkos a former No. 1 draft pick, took over as Lightning GM after Jay Feaster selected the future captain in 2008. And Lawton goes even further back in making comparisons.

“He has been just magnificent and such a great leader, but he doesn’t get talked about like a Mark Messier or somebody like that even a Steve Yzerman, which is incredible to me because he’s just as good a leader as those guys were,” said Lawton. “And I don’t mean that as a slight to anybody. He just has that type of quality and I think he’s applied that to his own life, and that’s why you’re able to come and play as great as he has.”

Stamkos has nine goals in this post-season, which continues Saturday night with Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver. He scored twice in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final, helping the Lightning eliminate the New York Rangers.

“Stammer is the best,” said teammate Anthony Cirelli, drafted by the Lightning in 2015. “Just how much he’s helped me over the years. He does everything right — does all of the little things right. You see him out there blocking shots, finishing checks, being good defensively, coming up with huge goals for us.

“When he’s going out there doing all that stuff, it brings all the guys in and makes you want to work harder for him. And then you get in the locker room and see the leadership in there. He’s always saying something if something needs to be said — trying to either calm us down or get us going. Stammer has been unbelievable since the day I got here.”

Stamkos talked about growing into a leadership role.

“Every year that you play in this league, you’re a little more comfortable in that role,” said Stamkos. “I wouldn’t say you’re ever nervous or anything like that, but winning a Stanley Cup, you understand what it takes to get there … When you accomplish that goal, you realize this is the toughest thing you’ve probably ever done as an athlete, in terms of the sacrifice that you have to make in order to have team success.”

Some are already wondering what will come next when the 32-year-old centre’s playing days are over.

“He is a phenomenal ambassador for our team and the sport in general,” said coach Jon Cooper. “Every time he gets in front of the microphone he is rewriting, like, exactly what should be said. And he, unlike myself, he doesn’t waste a bunch of words. He knows exactly the point of what he is saying.

“As for his mental side of the game, I can say this: Stammer could be a ref. He could be a GM. He could probably be a coach. He sees the game as it is happening on the bench as well as anybody, and he can talk you through it.”

Stamkos was electrifying as a teenager with the Markham Waxers and went first in the OHL draft to the Windsor Spitfires. After his NHL career got off to a tremendous start — 51 goals in his second season, 60 in his fourth — injuries struck. A fracture in his right tibia in the 2013-14 season cost him a spot on the Canadian Olympic team for Sochi, and a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee cost him miss most of the 2016-17 season, when Tampa missed the playoffs.

The worst — or was it the best? — was surgery to repair a core muscle on March 2, 2020. He was supposed to miss the rest of the season, but the playoffs were delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and he managed to get into Game 3 of the Cup final in September. He played just two minutes and 47 seconds, and scored on his only shot. His presence alone helped lift the team to the first of back-to-back Cups.

Far from slowing him down, injuries gave him renewed vigour. He scored 42 goals this season, tied for ninth in the league, and 106 points marked a career high.

“Stamkos has had some difficult injuries over the years,” said Lawton. “It looked like he was slowing down for a while there, and that’s completely in the rear-view mirror now. So I shouldn’t be surprised. And yet I am, because I’ve known so many players that it just eventually — things take a toll on you.

“You could see it when he was 18, 19, 20 years old, how hard he plays and how dedicated he is to the game.”

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