Part of the big hype was signing Stamkos. A guy who has significantly declined 5v5, significantly declined defensively and Tampa thought best for him to play wing. His skating is actually worse than Tavares, and by a margin. He was fed by Kucherov and still put up decent points, but was a -21 in regular season, and a -5 in the playoffs.
So now Nashville put him back at C, and he is with Marchessault. Now March is no Kucherov, that much is for sure, and isn't really a setup guy. So after three games, Stamkos is a -2 with no points.
Stamkos put up 39 points last year on the PP, on the team that was tops in the NHL in the regular season. Nashville was mid pack last year, and likely not much better this year, though their start on the PP has been terrible.
It wouldn't shock me to see in in the 40-55 point range this year, and at least a -21 again. His $8 mil contract will be seen as a massive albatross.
A Predators fan said this tonight about him.
- Stamkos appears to have gone to the James Neal school of "Stand around waiting for a one-timer". If he isn't scoring he's invisible...and he isn't scoring. Looks like a terrible contract so far.
That's literally what he did in Tampa too... but Kucherov is Kucherov and repeatedly fed him the puck... he still has a good shot. We had fans proposing swapping Tavares for Stamkos.