Stamkos lost for four months following knee surgery

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
November 20, 2016

BRANDON, Fla. – The Lightning once again face life without captain Steven Stamkos for a lengthy period of time.

Stamkos underwent surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus in his right knee and will be out approximately four months. The procedure was performed by Dr. Robert LaPrade at the Steadman Clinic in Vail,
Colorado.

The injury occurred during the first period of a game at Detroit when Stamkos was stretched along the boards, fell to the ice and twisted around before regaining his footing. As he stood back up on his skates, he reached for his right knee and flexed it a couple of times before heading to the bench.

The right leg is the same leg Stamkos fractured on Nov. 11, 2013, that required surgery to insert a titanium rod and kept him out for four nearly months.

So unfortunately for the Lightning, they have trudged along this path before, including last season when Stamkos was diagnosed with a blood clot in April that required surgery to alleviate and kept him out until Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.

“We’ve just got to take our head out of the sand, dig our heels in and march on,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “Unfortunately it has happened to us before and the guys have found a way. We have to look at this as a challenge and ultimately find a way to get ourselves in to the playoffs. That’s it. That’s our goal every year, as it is everybody else, is to win the Stanley Cup. But you can’t win the Stanley Cup right now, we have to get ourselves in to the playoffs to give ourselves a chance and an opportunity to win it.

“And in our situation, that’s our job, let’s get us (to the postseason) and give our guy (Stamkos) motivation to come back faster. And if we put ourselves in to position to make the playoffs, he’ll be back and that will be better than any trade deadline acquisition anybody else is going to get. That’s our goal.’’

But the absence of Stamkos is also a big blow to a Lightning team picked by some publications to hoist the Stanley Cup in June.
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The two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner was off to one of the best starts of his career and had just scored his ninth goal of the season in the game against Detroit before getting hurt. His chemistry with Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov was apparent as the trio proved to be dangerous on nearly every shift on the ice.

Stamkos was sitting tied for third in the league scoring race at the time the injury occurred.

“You can’t replace a player of his caliber,’’ defenseman Victor Hedman said. “But we have been through this before, unfortunately, so we have to go through the same thing again. Guys are going to have to step up, play more minutes. You don’t expect to replace a player like him, but you have to replace the minutes he plays. It’s one of those things that you just have to go through. We have before, so we just have to do it again. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us come game time. So we just have to make sure we bear down every game, play our hardest and try to build the best-case scenario for the time that Stammer is out.’’

During the 2013-14 season when Stamkos suffered a broken leg, the Lightning were 22-18-5 in the 45 games that Stamkos missed and qualified for the playoffs. Last season, he was diagnosed with the blood clot on April 1, missing the final five games of the regular season and 16 playoff games as Tampa Bay went 13-9, reaching the Eastern Conference Final for the second consecutive season.

Stamkos returned for Game 7 of the conference final, but had little impact in playing just under 12 minutes of ice time as Tampa Bay fell 2-1 to Pittsburgh.

But with the likelihood of a return before the playoffs this season – assuming the Lightning qualify – Stamkos could have a much bigger impact on his return this season.

The depth the Lightning have along with the experience earned the past two seasons not only dealing with adversity but also in knowing how to keep the proper perspective has Tampa Bay feeling as if this will be just a detour on their path this season.

“I think that’s one of our strengths in how deep we are and the amount of talent we have in our lineup,” alternate captain Ryan Callahan said. “By no means are we not going to miss (Stamkos). I mean, you lose a guy like that and it’s going to affect you. But the way we’re built, how deep we are, you can help absorb some of that.”

It’s not new territory for most of the players on this team.
“The more you’re put in the situation, unfortunately, the better equipped you are to handle it, so we’ll see how we do,” Cooper said. “Yes, we are going to miss him dearly. But our season is not over by no means.”

Article Note: A special thanks to Joe Yerdon of NHL.com for providing locker room audio from Buffalo for this report.

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