Seen Stamkos?

This is the main story for tomorrow's paper but thought it would be a good discussion here. Seems Steven Stamkos, the No. 1 overall pick, is averaging just 9:47 of ice time. That was 41st among rookies heading into Tuesday's games. Saturday against the Hurricanes, he played just 6:05.

Many factors seem to be involved.

First, the kid does not play on the penalty kill. Considering the amount of time the team has spent killing penalties (the Lightning was shorthanded nine times against Carolina), it was tough to get Stamkos in. But six minutes? Coach Barry Melrose, who said 12 to 15 minutes would be best at this stage of Stamkos' development, said he took some of the blame for not getting the hugely talented youngster into the game.

"It's got to be a conscious effort on my part," Melrose said about finding Stamkos some ice time. "You want to get him in the lineup. You want to put him in situations where he will succeed. We have to get him more than six minutes."

Beyond getting a regular shift, and Melrose said he would consider double-shifting Stamkos and linemates Vinny Prospal and Radim Vrbata, getting Stamkos on the power play is an option. The kid has an NHL-quality shot and has shown an ability to create. He also has been terrific on faceoffs, winning 12 of 18.

For his part, Stamkos said he understands the situation.

"It's not frustrated," Stamkos said. "I get frustrated the team is not doing as well as we hoped. There's still plenty of hockey left, and as the season progresses, hopefully, I can keep working hard and prove I can perform at an elite level in this league."

Comments

[da baer]

oh and in case you'll try to lie and say it was invented by you or some other brain-dead frog...here;

Ringette is a team sport played on an ice surface. Players are generally women, wear ice skates, and use straight sticks to control a rubber ring; with the objective of the game being to score goals by shooting the ring into the opponent's net. It was introduced by Sam Jacks in North Bay, Ontario in 1963.

[DA BEAR]

oh, and since you pulled out a ridiculously stupid link. I feel that this one is probably more trusted.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/RINGETTE

There that was easy...YOU ARE FULL OF BS!!!

SEE EVERYONE, never trust the french and most of this idiot, who spews bs and passes it as fact.

YOU JUST GOT OWNED. I told me to show you what it is you do and I did.

So, do YOU have anything to add.

Or are you done.

PEACE

[da bear]

hey dummy its called a rondelle in french yet you call it a puck. since we ARE on an english speaking site, i trust that the ENGLISH spelling is ok with you...like i care what you want...notice the qc in there people...that stands for quebec and they like their french over there.
About lying did you not read anything that WAS NOT on the quebec provincial site. I DONT HAVE ACCESS TO THE ARCHIVES. Open you eyes grandpa or should i say papere.

checkmate 2...i can almost hear the faggy french accent now.

[léo]

So THAT'S settled. Good. You have nothing on me; we both agree. Not even ONE post that shows I lied, dbear? You got nothin' except a headful of resentment towards for reasons unknown as of yet.
I ain't out to give KNOWLEDGE, dbear; just out to give my OPINION. Ain't tellin' anyone what to think. The fact that you got NOTHING proves this. That's number 1.
Number 2) "Frog boy", remember?
Ringuette, c'est un mot français.
You can spell it with a "W" and two "P"s in the USA for all I care. Yet it REMAINS a French word.
So don't TELL me how it's spelled, dbear; you risk looking even more ridiculous now, since your FIRST assault was laid to waste.
Here's proof of THE SECOND if you want it:
http://www.ringuette-quebec.qc.ca/
Checkmate TWO.
Got anything else, dbear?
Or are you done?
P.

[da bear]

it's spelled ringette. permission? please.

how the hell am i supposed to go back 6+ months of archives when i am not the moderator of this site?

ok, you got me. check mate. whatever.

[léo]

Whaa? Who is ya, da bear?
Never saw that name before, yet you seem to have much to say about me.
So, questions: -What was your name before?
-Am I the one who scared you so much, you had to change it?
-Can you substantiate ANY of your accusations? Cuz I deny them all. You're DRASTICALLY wrong. 100% wrong. Prove otherwise.
If what you say is true, well, even a little girl from a ringuette team could prove it. I say you can't.
Which means you wouldn't make their team either.
Show EVERYONE where I lied, da bear, please. I give you permission. I say you can't. Which makes YOU the liar. And contrary to you, I can prove it:
Stuck in the past? LEO is "stuck in the past"???
Yeah, that's me alright.
Bwaaah-haaaa-ha-ha!
Check.
Mate.
P.

[ted]

Pat Burns.

[olin]

...someone please give me a answer- did I read recently that Coach Melrose say's that ALL morning skates are optional?, and that games are won in the evening and not in the morning. Can this really be?

[Nan]

Stamkos had the least amount of even strength time of all the forwards on the team in the last game. It seems Melrose should have been aware of his problem with getting Stamkos in the game before this. He wasn't playing that many minutes in Prague either!Instead of getting Stamkos more time after the games in Prague, he got less!

[Boltflasher]

I have yet to read where anyone thought Malik would be a saviour, he may help though...some water on the fire may slow the burning but not put it out...

[da bear]

just checking in since the meszaros trade (told you i would, especially you frogboy, leo)...hmmm, where do i start? tb has not won one game.has 5 goals in those 3 games. stamkos is 0-for. oh, and meszaros ,the wunderkind powerplay quarterback saviour, has 1 pitiful assist.
Heward, a goon that couldn't hold onto any other nhl roster spot in the league, or an ahl spot for that matter, is the leading scorer! TOO FUNNY.

KUBA (aka the tbay whipping boy)26mins/game has four points and is quarterbacking an awesome powerplay (nearly 27% vs tb's paltry 12.5%).

PICARD (aka the throw in or the sacrifice of aquiring such a "great player as meszaros") 1 goal (pp goal!!!!) 17+ minutes.

1st rounder coming in June!!!

now malik is the saviour? what a bunch of bs.

SEE....!!!! Your owner's are trash and thats exactly what this team is now too.

Enjoy jostling for the cellar...
"seen tavares? or is it hedman"

BTW - don't get your hockey knowledge from leo, he's the biggest liar on here. He's trapped in the original 6 era and stays on these sites, where the fan base doesn't have a good grasp of the game and just spews unsubstantiated crap. It makes him feel all warm inside. He can't keep up with the knowledge and where the game REALLY is on the Canadians sites so he only comes here...you know, fragile ego.

hey leo...there's 24 more teams now in the nhl..yes tampa is one, even though they are as good as a 8 year olds girls ringette team that you could never make.

PeacePeacePeace

see you soon.

da bear

[Boltflasher]

No, Malik is not the next Bobby Orr but he's not Mike Lundin either...why don't you wait and see before commenting...he may not be any good here (despite a long history of superb +/-) but lets actually observe that...

[TopShelf]

Nothing wrong with slowly bringing Stamkos into the lineup, but more than 6 mins is needed. But at least if Melrose admits to this, it takes pressure of Stamkos. And you can learn a lot on the bench when you are 18 years old, sitting next to a Gary Roberts. Ice time in the wrong situations can hurt a young player too. All that being said, 6 mins isn't enough, but I am sure he will get more as games go on.

Want to talk about lack of grit, Stamkos' newly made line needs some. When a guy took a run at Vrbata saturday night, only Stamkos and Prospal were around to get into a scuffle. Must admit though, Stamkos is going a great job hitting when he can, he adds more muscle he might become a good hitter as well.

Malik is a good signing at $1.2 mill (what i said would be the max we should pay him). He is an upgrade to Heward, takes ice time from guys like Carle. Malik should have been signed into training camp, but hey we also shouldn't be trading away a top 4 d-man after one game.

[léo]

If yeh stands back from the picture a smidgeon, it looks nay like Stamkos, but rather, a dumpy ole codger with a big black bushy mustache!
When I first saw it, I thought "Oh no! Whut've they done now?!"
Mayhap, I must get me brightness adjusted?
As well as the one on me machine?
Oy.
P.

[Beau]

Malik sucks, but that has already been stated many times over. Doesn't anybody wonder why he was still unsigned?

Stamkos should be playing on the penalty kill as well as every other situation. Give the kid a chance to do something. Hell, he may even reward us with a couple short-handed goals.

[Carson]

We signed malik for 1.5 mil hope he does what they need or it'll be a long season

Not sure what to think of this, but TSN is reporting we signed Malik.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=252644&lid=sublink01&lpos=headlines_nhl

[Ruthe Robertson]

No, but I sure would love to see him more on the ice. Can he do any harm? Turn him loose and let him play. He won't learn on the bench.

[Boltflasher]

At least Melrose admitted he's not keeping track of ice time. Wonder if he's aware of who just killed penalties as well before trotting them back out there....