By The Chief
Tampa Bay Captain Steven Stamkos just recently came back from a supposed injured leg. I’m not buying it. Stamkos obviously has a long history of injury, but not that long. He’s hurt his leg before, but not since 2013. Now he all of the sudden reinjures that same leg. Nope, didn’t happen. But why would he lie? I’ll tell you.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have been one of the most dominant hockey teams in the last decade. Since 2010, they have made it to the eastern conference finals 5 times. Five! Out of ten total seasons, I’d definitely call that domination. Now, those stellar Lightning teams don’t all have a lot in common. There is however, one thing common to them all that I can point out; Steven Stamkos. Stamkos has been a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning since the 2008/09 season where he finished top ten in voting for the Calder rookie of the year trophy, and has seen the Bolts to the postseason 7 times, never taking home the coveted Stanley Cup.
A stain on a nearly perfect record for Stamkos. The all-star has never won it all. He’s been to the finals once, and now his team has brought him to a second. If I were him, I’d be embarrassed. The guy can’t finish and he knows it. He was scared of screwing up again and finally losing the trust of Tampa Bay fans or even the praise of hall of fame voters. One more playoff loss would just be too much for the poor guy, so he waited. He pretended to be injured until he was confident that the Lightning would finally be able to take the cup back to the gulf coast. I’m not saying he’s wrong for doing it. In fact, I respect the move. Go Bolts!