When Olli Jokinen is better than Steven Stamkos…

With many poolies still managing their line-ups for H2H playoffs and roto titles or putting together their keeper lists for the 2015-16 season, there's no better time for a battle between two centermen who are likely on many of your short lists – Steven Stamkos and Olli Jokinen. But you know I'm never afraid of tackling even the toughest of dilemmas – this Cage Match starts now!

Career Path and Contract Status

Stamkos was selected first overall in the 2008 draft, and was in the NHL the same season. But rather than hit the ground running he managed only 46 points as a rookie. And although he's shown some flashes of goal scoring ability, Stamkos has still failed to reach the 50 assist mark in a season, a feat that's been accomplished since his rookie campaign by the likes of centers Ryan Kesler, Paul Stastny, Mike Ribeiro (twice!), and even Todd White, Mike Richards, and Vyacheslov Kozlov!

The latest trends are especially discouraging, as Stamkos has managed only 43 assists in his last 114 games. And this from a guy who many saw as having the potential to be a truly elite set-up man and even heir apparent to recent Cage Match combatants Joe Thornton and Henrik Sedin.

Jokinen was a third overall selection (for the Kings) and, after having been dealt twice in his first three full seasons (as a centerpiece to bring Ziggy Palffy to the Islanders and Roberto Luongo to Florida), he broke out for the Panthers with 251 points in 246 games from 2005-06 to 2007-08. For nine consecutive seasons, Jokinen posted 50+ points, with only the 2012-13 lockout being able to do what NHL defenses couldn't – stop him from producing.

Even now, Jokinen is so valuable that St. Louis – having seen him post two points against them on December 30th while he was a member of the Predators – jumped at the chance to grab him after the Preds bafflingly dished him to Toronto. Perhaps the only squads happier than the Blues about Jokinen landing in St. Louis are the Kings and Islanders, who might finally be able to wipe away the egg from their faces after letting go of an all-time great like Jokinen back in the day.

Jokinen will be a UFA after this season, headlining the shopping lists of many NHL GMs. Stamkos has one more year for Tampa Bay at $7.5M before hitting the UFA ranks, at which point teams, wary of his declining production and band-aid boy status (more on those later), might need a bit of arm twisting or at least a bounce back 2015-16 in order to toss out a short term deal.