What makes Steven Stamkos an Elite Scorer?

In the back half of his career, with all the amount of young talent sometimes overshadowing today's veterans, it can be argued that Steven Stamkos is still a slightly underrated player given how well he plays. There's so much he can do in terms of all-around ability, and he's especially rounded out his game very well when it comes to using his playmaking and his defensive zone ability.

We know Stamkos is having such an elite career when it comes to his finishing touch, being able to leverage his shooting ability in many different ways. He can snapshot off the rush, he can find seams that other players cannot from many angles, he has the ability to generate shots under pressure (Even when drawing defenders to him), and he can shoot from anywhere inside the offensive zone. It doesn't matter if he is in one of the outside lanes in neutral ice, because he can generate so much speed on zone entries, and leverage his cutbacks and stop/starts to find the inside with pace.

There's no stopping Stamkos anytime soon, as this marks the third consecutive year that he's reached over 30 goals, with a few games in hand to go in the season. Come playoff time in a few weeks, you can rely on a player like Stamkos in any situation as well, since he's been one of the more consistent players over the years for the Lightning when it comes to playoff situations.

Last night in Montreal against the Canadiens, Stamkos scored his 33rd and 34th goals of the season, finishing the night with 3 points in the Lightning's 7-4 victory.

Stamkos One-Timer Goal

As for what is considered his signature over the years in the NHL, Stamkos has found so much success generating power through his one-timers, especially off royal road passes. When we look at the effectiveness of the royal road, as shown in the clip, it's tremendously difficult for these goalies nowadays to get over fast enough. The composite sticks and flex makes the puck whippier and faster coming off the blade, but today's mechanics in terms of lower body technique is faster, and shots are of course faster.

Cirelli makes a very well-timed, and not too fast, pass for Stamkos across the royal road here. When Stamkos gets ready to load up for the one-timer, we'll look at many different components to analyze the effectiveness of the shot here:

1. Timing on his route, anticipation to angle his body for the one-timer
2. Rotation through his upper body and lower body torque
3. Ability to shoot from his back foot area
4. Dynamic lower body upon release and following through
5. He doesn't drop his chest, nor does he move it too far forward

The initial route Stamkos took to open up a royal road pass in tandem with his body positioning to leverage space was very effective here. Elite scorers are able to recognize these plays instinctively, partly because they've done it for so long that it becomes a habit, but also because of their ability to set themselves up for success on shots. Stamkos makes it much easier on himself here, since he leverages his body positioning and that open passing lane first. From there, it sets him up to score easily.

When we talk about shooting as well, a lot of the power and stance purpose comes from lower body elements. Lower body rotation and bringing a dynamic lower body, like Stamkos does here, emphasizes his ability to create power through the shot and follow through. His lower body adapts to the puck upon release, allowing him to create power and comfortably adapt his stance as well. When we look Stamkos' stance upon when the puck hits his blade, his back foot is in one direction, his waist in another, and his upper body starts to move in a different direction because of that rotation.

Over his career, Stamkos has learned and worked relentlessly on shooting from his back foot and front foot. Here, he shoots slightly from the back foot area, being able to leverage that power and transfer his weight quickly. But, we also see how far apart his feet actually are when he releases this puck. Interestingly, his shooting stance was rangier and wider when taking the shot than when he didn't have the puck.

His one-timer is one of the marquee components to his arsenal of shots. However, his ability to shoot off the rush with speed is underrated, as well as his ability to manipulate space and create up the middle with his shots as well.

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