Stamkos doesn't want rule changes intended to increase goal-scoring

With NHL goal-scoring hovering around dead-puck-era levels early in the 2015-16 season, no team has been more disappointing when it comes to putting the puck in the net than the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Now in the bottom third of the league with 55 goals through 23 games, the reigning Eastern Conference champions led the league last season, scoring 262 times.

Many are calling for rule changes to increase goal-scoring - including his coach and multiple teammates - but Lightning captain Steven Stamkos doesn't feel there's an immediate need for bigger nets or smaller goalie equipment, partly because he believes the situation isn't that simple.

"Obviously, you want to score and get points and all that stuff, but at the same time, I'm a guy that says that's the game," Stamkos said, according to Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune. "It's a lot more complicated than the net and the goalie equipment, it's the systems that teams play, the willingness of players to block shots with every part of their body.

"It's tactics and video, stuff that didn't exist when goal-scoring was at its highest. Obviously, the goalies have gotten a lot better, quicker, faster, stronger and bigger because of their equipment, but it's just something you have to deal with as a player. You just have to find a way."

The two-time Maurice Richard Trophy winner isn't struggling to find the net in the early going - he's tied for seventh in the NHL with 11 goals - but many of his teammates are, including Tyler Johnson, who's scored just four times through 20 games following his career-best 29-goal campaign last year.