Stamkos Bound for Year of Milestones

Steven Stamkos is off to a scalding hot start to the 2022-23 season.

Through six games, Stamkos has seven goals and nine points. This is coming off a career high in points a season ago and the best playoff run of his career statistically.

Last year was already an incredible season for Stamkos who reached the 100 point mark for the first time of career in year 14.

The records and milestones kept coming as Stamkos seemed to set a new mark every night. To name a few, Stamkos became the Lightning franchise leader in Game Winning Goals and most notably became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer by passing Martin St. Louis’ 953 Lightning points.

Everything has seemed to be coming up perfectly for the captain since finally having his name engraved on the Stanley Cup, twice.

This late-career renaissance seems to just keep on going and now Stamkos is staring down a number of milestones as the season goes along with the expectation that he remains healthy.

1. One Thousand Games Played

It’s hard to believe, but if Stamkos stays healthy for the long haul this season, he will pass a thousand games played. Stamkos has just 72 games to go to reach the mark with 76 games remaining in the regular season.

Stamkos would have been able to reach this milestone sooner had he not missed significant time over the years due to injury. This makes him reaching the number even more impressive as playing a thousand games is one of the greatest accomplishments imaginable playing in the National Hockey League.

2. One Thousand Points

Well, since Stamkos has been over a point per game player throughout his career,  him chasing down one thousand games also means he is closing in on one thousand points for his career.

As of today, Stamkos has 981 career points. With the hot streak he has been on, this mark should be beaten sooner rather than later as he needs just 19 more points. Not trying to make getting a thousand points sound like a cake walk, but the expectation is that he can reach that mark in no time considering the pace he has been on.

3. 500 Goals and Assists

For you math people, 500 goals and 500 assists equals 1,000 points, so it would make sense that he would reach these marks around the same time.

Stamkos currently has 493 assists, making that the most likely milestone to be reached first. And with 488 career goals, 500 goals won’t be hard too far behind.

Obviously, it would make sense that these assist and goal totals coincide with the 1,000 point pursuit. The fact that his goal and assist totals are so close to one anther speaks to how complete of a player he is an has become. He has long been known for being one of the great goal scorers in league history, but the fact that his assist totals are even higher just shows his ability to do so much more than just put the puck in the net.