Steven Stamkos experiment with Nashville Predators has already crashed and burned

I really hate to say this because the respect I have for future Hall of Famer Steven Stamkos is very high, but the match with the Nashville Predators just isn't panning out right now. Is it beyond repair?

They have tried desperately to move Stamoks around the lineup to find the right linemates to get him going. He has just one goal through the first seven games, and that goal was kind of a lucky break on the power play with a pass that ended up deflecting into the net.

Even more concerning is that Stamkos isn't even getting shots on net. It's not as if he is getting the heavy volume of shots and just getting turned away. If that were the case, then you'd feel much more confident that the flood gates were going to eventually open and the goals will start coming.

Is the Nashville Predators-Steven Stamkos marriage already on the rocks early on in Year 2?

Stamkos is just being held to a very minimal impact, which is wild to even say. How much of this is a product of the lack of talent around him and how much is based on he is just simply way past his prime? Probably a little bit of both, but if you put Stamkos on a loaded team he would still put up much better numbers than he is with the Predators.

The main issue for why this is not working out is that the two simply aren't a good match. Stamkos at this stage on his career, his 18th NHL season, he needs to be on teams rich with talent so that he can just settle in and fire shots away. A team where he is not asked to carry a heavy load.

On this Predators team, Stamkos is being leaned on to be one of the main offensive catalysts along with Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan O'Reilly. With the exception of Forsberg, all of these guys are past their primes. They're still quality players who can still be productive in the NHL, but being leaned on to lead a team against the elite rosters of the NHL is usually going to end in failure.

You're already starting to see the good fortune run out for the Predators. They got some lights out goaltending from Juuse Saros to open the season which allowed them to get a couple wins over Columbus and Ottawa, and sneak out with some overtime points against Utah and Montreal.

Against the faster teams loaded with young offensive playmakers, the Predators are clearly outmatched. Even against an Anaheim Ducks team that might not even be playoff bound, they looked lost on defense.

When it comes to Stamkos, he just simply cannot take over games anymore. He is out there for one primary reason, and that's to pile up power play goals. That can still be a great reason for a team to want him, but when it comes to the Predators, it's just not working.

The Predators have 24 power play opportunities and have connected for a goal just twice. That's a 8.3 percent success rate, which is worst in the NHL. If Stamkos' main attribute for your team is to score power play goals and you see that, then it's hard to ignore.

Let's go back to the concerning shot output by Stamkos. Again, just 14 shots on goal while lining up on the Predators' top power play unit. That is nowhere close to enough shot volume and somewhat explains why he has been held to just one goal. Then you see he also has just 32 total shot attempts. So he has missed the net entirely, either blocked or just plain missed, on 18 of his 32 shot attempts.

The Predators' top-six is a mess right now. Jonathan Marchessault missed another game in the Tuesday night beatdown at the hand of the Ducks, and that put Luke Evangelista on the top line and Stamkos on the second line.

Evangelista didn't look comfortable or confident out there at all, and Stamkos was almost invisible lining up on a line with fellow veterans Erik Haula and Michael Bunting. At 5-on-5 play they spent over ten minutes of ice time together against Anaheim, leading all forward lines. Despite that, this line produced just seven shots on goal as a unit at 5-on-5 play, per MoneyPuck.

You don't have to dig too deep for why the Stamkos experiment is crashing out and may be beyond repair. They can't find a place for him or the right linemates. Do they play him at wing or center? Who should he play with, veterans or youngsters? No one can figure out what the best answer is, and he'll probably be moved somewhere else with different linemates in the next games.

A second line of Bunting and Haula is laughable at this point in their careers, and that's no disrespect to those guys. It's just the truth. They are third line grinders, not second line skill players. Bunting has eight shots on net through seven games, Haula with nine. And those were your second line players with Stamkos against Anaheim. Sheesh.

Stamkos has zero chemistry with this Preds roster and it's painful to watch

Let's first remember that prime Steven Stamkos played on loaded rosters with the Tampa Bay Lightning, worlds apart better than what he has played with on the Predators. That's not to take anything away from what Stamkos has accomplished as a future Hall of Famer, it's just facts that he had elite teammates with him which also matters.

There's zero chemistry on the Predators being built with Stamkos and he almost looks like he just joined the team a week ago. It looks awkward and forced out there. The frustration on his face is palpable, and then there's this excerpt circulating from an interview just before the Anaheim game, as reported by Emma Lingan of FanSided and The Hockey News:

""It's tough. I mean we have some pretty good offensive players that want to produce to help our team win. When you're not helping in that regard, it's tough""

Per Emma Lingan

Here is the full quote:

After reading that very candid quote from Stamkos, I foolishly got this feeling that he was about to go off against Anaheim. Maybe score a big power play goal that would help lead the Predators to a much needed home win, which I wrote about previously was a vital game to the Predators' early season psyche. So much for that.

I'd love to be proven wrong and Stamkos finds the mojo. Maybe you try him more at center and see if he can open up scoring opportunities for his linemates. I have my doubts that he can go back to playing center this late in his career, but they haven't really tried it yet this season. Try him out with Evangelista on one wing and Forsberg on the other. Put O'Reilly on the second line center. See what kind of spark that gives you.

You have to try something else because whatever we're getting now is going to send us right back to a sub-70 point season. To be frank, only Juuse Saros can save us from that. Even if he performs as a top-5 NHL goalies, Predators aren't sniffing the playoffs. They're in another universe compared to the upper tier teams. Does that mean they can't grind their way to some upset wins? No, they can still play hard and relentless and scratch their way to some wins, but this overall product isn't sustainable on most nights.

Stamkos just began Year 2 of a four-year deal with the Predators that carries an $8 million AAV. I don't see the Predators unloading him unless they retain a significant amount of that salary. I can't see it happening this year, but they'll probably start thinking about an exit strategy by Year 3 if this trend continues.

I don't want to see Stamkos go out like this. The last thing I want is for people look back on Stamkos' illustrious NHL career and see this eyesore at the end where people say to themselves, "Oh yeah, he had that brief stop with that dumpster fire franchise in Nashville". If nothing else, I hope he can at least find his place in the lineup and begin to chip in on this team's rebuild ahead so we can say he was part of the solution, not the problem.