SAN JOSE – Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos had a message to fans of the San Jose Sharks – and perhaps to the players themselves — who have seen the team stripped for parts and plunge to the bottom of the NHL standings.
Have some patience, because it can get better — if things are done the right way.
“Every team goes through that transitional period at some point,” Stamkos said Thursday morning at SAP Center.
The Sharks entered Thursday’s same with the Lightning with a league-worst record of 16-45-7, and are on track to have their poorest season since they moved from the Cow Palace in Daly City into their west downtown arena in 1993.
It could take years for the Sharks to become relevant again.
But Stamkos said that’s exactly where the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, and Pittsburgh Penguins were not so long ago.
“You look at all the best teams since I’ve gotten to the league (in 2008),” Stamkos said. “In Chicago, where they were and the position they had to be in in order to get Patrick Kane and (Jonathan) Toews and the guys that they acquired. They weren’t a very good team for a long time and it takes time, it takes patience.
“Look at where Pittsburgh was before they got obviously (Evgeni) Malkin and (Sidney) Crosby and (Kris) Letang and those guys, and it’s similar to where we were, too. We had a first, a second, and a third overall pick. Those aren’t great years if you’re having those high draft picks.”
Drafted first overall in 2008, Stamkos came to a Tampa Bay team that had finished last in the NHL’s overall standings the season before, and after Stamkos’ arrival, the Lightning would make the playoffs only once in the next five years.
But between 2008 and 2013, the Lightning drafted Victor Hedman second overall in 2009, Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Kucherov, and Ondrej Palat in 2011, and Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jonathan Drouin as first-round picks in 2012 and 2013, respectively. They also added other key players via free agency and deft trades.
“It’s tough for the fan base sometimes to see where the future is going,” Stamkos said. “But that’s just the way it is in this league. It’s tough to have sustained success for a long time without having to have some tough years and be able to draft some players that can help that rebuild process.”
From the start of the 2013-2014 season to Thursday, the Lightning have the NHL’s second-best regular season record at 513-267-70 for a .645 points percentage.
All with maybe the league’s best coach, Jon Cooper, at the helm.
Oh, and they reached the Stanley Cup Final four times, winning twice.
“It’s (hard) as a player to not win and kind of see that light at the end of the tunnel,” Stamkos said. “But you hope that you can bring in players that help expedite the process and help those young guys out and just build from there.”
The Sharks have re-stocked the cupboards in recent years by drafting forwards Will Smith, Quentin Musty, Filip Bystedt, and William Eklund, and adding 23-and-under defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin, Henry Thrun and Jack Thompson via trade. The Sharks also have seven first or second-round draft picks in the next two years and are squarely in the mix to have the No. 1 overall pick selection this year.
Asked by this news organization what his advice would be to Smith, drafted fourth overall last year, or to Macklin Celebrini, the ex-Jr. Shark who will go No. 1 this year, Stamkos said, “It’s different, right? You’re used to being the top player or the guy whose out there in all situations when you’re in junior or college, and then you get to the NHL and it’s just a whole different league. The guys are bigger, stronger, faster, and you want everything to happen right away. And for some guys, it does.
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“But for a lot of guys, it takes some time, and even for myself, it took some time to get acclimated to this league. You want that opportunity, and you have to earn that, and then when you get it, that’s when it’s up to you to keep it, right?
“So there’s a lot of hard work, but at the same time, you have to realize, sometimes you take a step back. Listen, you’re in the best league in the world at a really young age and it’s an amazing privilege to be able to go out there and play in this league and you just put in the work and hopefully, it works out.”