Stamkos getting groove back with Predators, including 600th career goal

Steven Stamkos has yet to grasp the full magnitude of scoring 600 goals in the NHL.

The Nashville Predators forward is the third active player to do it and 22nd in League history. More importantly, he is having fun again and the focus is on his play and helping Nashville win as many games as possible.

“I think anytime you go through some of these milestones in your career, it’s something that probably hits home a little more when you’re on the outside looking in,” Stamkos said. “While you’re in the mix, it’s really tough to comprehend the history of it.”

The other active players to get at least 600 goals are Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The list of players to do it all-time includes Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Jaromir Jagr and Steve Yzerman.

“You see the list of names and that’s obviously very special to be part of that group, it’s pretty surreal,” Stamkos said. “There are a lot of guys I grew up idolizing, some my dad idolized and you hear the stories and it’s cool, but it’s something I don’t think you quite process how special it is when you’re in the middle of a season.”

Stamkos scored his 600th goal in a 4-2 win at the Vegas Golden Knights on New Year’s Eve.

It came during one of his best scoring runs with Nashville, getting 10 goals in 10 games. The Predators (19-19-4) went 7-3-0 in the stretch to get back into the playoff hunt in the Western Conference.

The 35-year-old has 28 points (18 goals, 10 assists) in 42 games, which is impressive, considering he had one goal and one assist in his first 14 games.

Stamkos will look to build on those numbers when the Predators host the New York Islanders at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+).

“I wouldn’t say a ton has changed, we’re getting some goals and some breaks and that creates confidence. That creates some mojo,” Stamkos said. “We shuffled some lines up around too and I think that sparked a few things. The power play has gotten a lot better and that’s sparked some things.

“As an offensive guy, you gotta get some touches and some feels in the games, and we weren’t really getting that much in the first 15 games of the year and it was tough. We weren’t scoring, we weren’t winning and it was not fun coming to the rink.”

But Stamkos stuck with it. Such has been his approach throughout his 18 seasons in the NHL.

Selected No. 1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2008 NHL Draft, Stamkos won the Stanley Cup twice (2020, 2021), the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as top goal-scorer twice (2010, 2012) and the Mark Messier Leadership award (2023) while there. When he became an unrestricted free agent last offseason, he left the only NHL team he had ever played for, signing a four-year, $32 million deal with the Predators on July 1, 2024.

He struggled during his first season in Nashville, getting 53 points (27 goals, 26 assists) in 82 games. It was his lowest point total in a season where he played at least 48 games since he had 46 points in 79 games his rookie season. The Predators finished 28 points out of a playoff spot last season.

But now he’s producing and winning, and his work ethic reverberates around the locker room in his second season with Nashville.

“I don’t know if it’s necessarily a love of the game, I think we all love playing hockey,” Stamkos said. “It’s just that’s all I know, that’s how I was raised by my parents, my dad especially who got me into the game. You watch how they work, whether it’s in sports or business or life, it’s just ingrained in you as a little kid.

“And then you get to a place and you think you're working hard, and you see guys that are working even harder, and that was me coming in as a rookie and I saw a guy like Marty St. Louis, and what he put into it, and then it makes you think a little; ‘OK, I can do more.’”

Stamkos has 26 points (17 goals, nine assists) in 28 games since scoring his second goal of the season on Nov. 4 in a 3-2 overtime loss at the Minnesota Wild. He had six points (three goals, three assists) in four games before he was kept off the score sheet in a 6-2 loss at the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

“You see some results, and guys start playing with some confidence,” Stamkos said. “Guys are starting to buy-in a little more and then it’s fun coming to the rink, and then you get on the roll. That’s what we’ve been doing here in the last probably 15 games.”

Stamkos, who was the Lightning captain from March 6, 2014 until his departure last offseason, has acclimatized to his new environment.

“We’re really grateful to have him,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think the leadership he brings to everybody, on the bench to the team and to the young guys, I think for our young guys to watch how he works every practice, he’s one of the hardest workers on our team.

“He’s always working on his craft. He takes care of himself off the ice. The way he handles himself inside our locker room and the way he handled himself when things weren’t going well earlier, it was pretty amazing for me to watch.”

Brunette said there was an adjustment period for Stamkos when he first arrived in Nashville and needed to change his game to succeed with the Predators. He is now on pace for a 10th season with at least 30 goals.

“We’re not built the same way that Tampa was,” Brunette said. “I think he’s changed a little bit of his game. He understands the way he has to play to get inside ice, and you look at his shot maps and his heat maps and they’ve changed dramatically over the last little stretch and credit to him, because it’s really hard to change when you’ve had success at doing something for so long. Growth as a hockey player is always hard, it’s always uncomfortable, and give him a lot of credit for finding a way.”

While far from aging out, Stamkos understands he may not have the speed he once did, particularly in today’s game, which is as fast as it’s ever been. So, he had to evolve.

“The pace and the skill is ridiculous, but at the end of the day, the guys that usually have success as you get older in your career, they always have a good hockey sense and IQ,” Stamkos said. “For sure, you have to maybe reinvent your game a little bit, but you see lots of guys that are still having success into their late 30s that maybe we’ve all lost the steps since we were 22 years old.”

According to teammate Filip Forsberg, Stamkos has been in the League such a long time, there is a perception he may be older than his 35 years.

“He’s not that old. He’s been around a long time, but it might surprise people that he’s nowhere close to 40 necessarily,” Forsberg said. “He’s been in this League for so long and hopefully, there are many more years for him to come.”