I'm not a Stamkos fan. I've seen him called an empty calories scorer, and I do agree with that. To be fair, that's much more of an indictment of post-leg injury Stamkos. Before his leg injury Stamkos was legitimately the second best goal scorer in the NHL, sometimes best, and with stiff competition in Ovechkin. Didn't play much defence or add really anything outside of offence, and for some of his big years he had St. Louis operating as the actual offensive driver on his line. Still seasons like 2012 were exemplary to his credit.
I find Stamkos a unique case in that he was unlucky with an obvious career altering injury, in that he was never as good after he broke his leg, but he also ended up with incredible luck in terms of who he could play with. Stamkos is one of the Canadian star forwards who was deployed as a centre even though he played like a winger. He was fortunate enough to end up getting a lot of time with St. Louis early on, a rare elite playmaking winger who contributed offensively much as a regular centre would and allowed Stamkos to do what he did best, and then later on when Tampa Bay became a deep offensive team (Stamkos didn't need to carry the load) and allowed Stamkos to consistently have strong linemates and elite support on the power play. I'm curious about what Stamkos looks like in 2014 and 2015 without the leg break. Through 16 games (broke his leg in the 17th game) in 2014 he had 23 points (14 goals) and I recall that he looked really good, as I was paying attention with the Olympics coming up. Then in 2015 he still finished second in goals despite coming off the leg injury and St. Louis' tantrum that saw him leave Tampa Bay. Individually he remains a "what if".
I just think he's a guy who is less than his numbers look. Without the leg break he obviously still ages well since he has aged fairly well anyway and is a noted hard worker off the ice and as boring as a potato. Maybe he has a Hart season in 2015 with a healthy leg and no St. Louis on his team. He'll still end up with over 600 goals, probably comfortably above, so it's been a great career.