Stamkos going strong as he approaches 500

The Lightning captain is gunning for his second straight 100-point season...Plus Tampa will not go quietly into the night, Anthony Cirelli's impact and Brandon Hagel's role

Steven Stamkos is pushing for his second straight 100-point season.

Sometime in the very near future – Who knows? Could be tonight – Steven Stamkos will become the 47th player in NHL history to record 500 career goals. It’s an interesting milestone, one that is noteworthy, but certainly not one with the cachet it once had.

In fact, it doesn’t even represent an automatic pass to the Hockey Hall of Fame these days. Just ask Keith Tkachuk, Pat Verbeek, Pierre Turgeon, Jeremy Roenick and Petr Bondra. Of the 500-goal men who are not yet eligible, Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby are shoo-ins and Patrick Marleau is borderline.