TAMPA, Fla. — Steven Stamkos is one of the best hockey players in the world — and the captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning — but he can still enjoy his off time in Florida’s bay area in an anonymous manner.

The center loves to golf, his passion since his grandfather Joe Walker got him started at age 7; he is now a 6 handicap. Stamkos goes paddleboarding and often takes his dog Trigger, a 100-pound Swiss Mountain, to the dog beach or for a walk in the South Tampa waterfront neighborhood where he has lived for seven years.

And Stamkos, 24, said he can go unrecognized, a welcomed respite from his offseasons in his hometown near Toronto.

”I think I can enjoy that fact that you get enough notoriety around town but you don’t get too much,” he said. ”You can go to the mall, go to dinner, go to the golf course, go to the beach, and for the most part you don’t get bothered too much. It’s nice to kind of fly under the radar.”

But as the Lightning open the season, all eyes will be on Stamkos, who is a popular preseason candidate for the Hart Trophy (league MVP) and Art Ross (top scorer).

That is because Stamkos — who broke the tibia in his right leg in November and missed 45 games — is in a much better place, physically and mentally, than he was the final two months of last season. He is fitter, and maybe more explosive, than ever. He hopes for a day he feels like he never broke his leg; a day he says is “getting closer.”

The Lightning could see that during fitness testing on the first day of training camp, when Stamkos had team-best marks in the vertical jump (37.7 inches) and broad jump (10 feet, 4 inches). His vertical was 2.7 inches higher than before his injury.

”Very impressive,” general manager Steve Yzerman said.

Teammates can sense it on the ice, watching the power and speed in Stamkos’ skating, his fearlessness in battles during preseason games, including Saturday’s finale against the Florida Panthers. In the first period, Stamkos scored a power-play goal, ripping a slap shot from the right circle into the top left corner of the net.

”He looks like Stammer,” defenseman Victor Hedman said.

And for all Stamkos has accomplished in his first six years in the National Hockey League — two Rocket Richard trophies (top goal scorer), two All-Star Game appearances, a 60-goal season — he and the Lightning believe the best might be yet to come.

”He’s just entering the prime years of his career,” said Yzerman, a Hall of Famer. “He’s a highly motivated guy. He’s improved his fitness every year. Being that driven, you’re naturally going to get better over time.”

Stamkos is the Lightning’s longest-tenured player and the face of the franchise. For the first time since he arrived in 2008, the Lightning opens a season without Vinny Lecavalier or Marty St. Louis. It is his team.

”You relish that chance,” he said. ”It’s pretty cool to honestly be on one team for so long and be a guy that’s been here since I was 18 years old and continue to grow into a leader and a better player and person and get involved in the community. It’s fun. Tampa is pretty much my home.

”Hopefully now it’s kind of a fresh page.

“It’s a new fresh start. Hopefully we take advantage of it.”

Last year was the toughest of his career.

Stamkos took a big step in his game last fall, playing both ends of the ice, taking shifts on the penalty kill (he still has to improve on faceoffs, 49 percent last season). But on Nov. 11 in Boston, Stamkos got tangled with Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton, and his right leg crashed into the post. He had surgery the next day.

”It was the first time I ever missed a game due to injury going back to junior. It was tough,” Stamkos said. “The mind is a powerful thing; I learned that quickly. … But if it was going to happen, it happened at the (worst) time.”

Stamkos tried to make it back by February’s Olympics, saying playing for Canada meant everything to him. It hurt that he had to watch the team win the gold medal on television.

Stamkos was cleared to play on March 5, and in his first game back, he wore the captain’s “C” on his jersey, a role teammates say he was born to play.

Stamkos said that with three former captains on the Lightning, it is a lead-by-committee approach. But he stands out.

“He’s the leader of this team, for sure,” Hedman said. ”He’s vocal when he has to, and when he talks, people listen.”