Season of Stamkos starts with the first step back on the ice with Tampa Bay Lightning

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
September 14, 2017

TAMPA – A hunger like never before sits inside Steven Stamkos.

Already driven to succeed, the two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner doesn’t remember entering a training camp with the type of excitement level he feels this year as the Tampa Bay Lightning arrived at Amalie Arena on Thursday for physicals and media rounds.

But for Stamkos, this training camp offers the chance to put everything that has happened to him the past two seasons and get a fresh start. He is so ready to get things going.

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“I can’t remember a training camp that I’ve been this anxious and excited for,’’ Stamkos said. Obviously trying to come back last year and putting the work in and then seeing the guys get so close and not make it has been an extra motivating factor as well. Just feels great to be back here and participating. The fitness testing with the guys in the skates and we had a little impromptu team bonding in Nashville. It’s all coming together and I can just see, not only for me, but how excited the guys are and how anxious they are to get back, just to prove to ourselves and to everyone that’s we’re not going to let what happened last year happen again this year.’’

Stamkos wants to put everything about last year behind him – other than winning the gold medal with Canada at the World Cup of Hockey – after he suffered a partially torn meniscus in his right knee during a game at Detroit on Nov. 15. Stamkos got off to a torrid start with nine goals and 20 points through 17 games, but saw his season come to an end due to the injury that required surgery to repair and reattach.

The procedure and long-term recovery that came after surgery was grueling – and Stamkos knows a thing or two about recovering from recovery from a long-term injury – but done in the name of trying to get the knee back to full strength for the rest of his career.

That, in part, is why the start of this camp has a different feel for Stamkos, who is ready to put everything that has happened to him in the past few years – broken leg, blood clot, knee surgery – far behind him.

”Hopefully things happen in threes and it’s done and over with and I can focus on playing hockey and doing what I love because it has been frustrating,’’ Stamkos said. “But all I can is continue to work and do what I can to get back to being the player I know I can be.’’

As part of his recovery training, Stamkos said they instituted some different type of training methods to push some of the limits in the knee, which has already paid dividends.

”To see how much better it’s felt in the last month, month and a half is encouraging,’’ he said. “We manipulated some workouts and added some gymnastics and some grappling so you’re not thinking about it and you’re just reacting. With any injury the brain always tries to protect that injured spot so it might limit you in certain things. We were trying to find different way to throw your body in a reactive state where your brain didn’t have enough time to protect it and see how it felt and it felt good. To be honest it felt even better and better on the ice and just trying to do more stuff on the ice to help my body back into hopefully game (shape).’’

Stamkos has only been back in Tampa skating with his teammates for just over a week, which includes the time spent in Nashville as players escaped the path of Hurricane Irma over the weekend, but there has been something noticeably different in Stamkos.

”He looks fit, he looks like he has that man strength and you can tell that he’s excited,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “I know he’s been training really hard to get back to this point. He’s walking around like a man on a mission.’’

The Lightning captain has been skating like it, as well. Even in the brief informal skates done by the players in the days leading up to training camp, Stamkos showed off all the work he’s put in over the past 10 months to get back to this point. Though he always seems to sport a smile, his eyes give him a much more focused and determined look as training camp opened.

”I’m glad he’s on our team this year because I could see him doing some damage with the way he feels and how excited he is,’’ forward Ryan Callahan said. “It’s good to have him back.’’

That has his teammates excited for what the season could bring for a healthy captain back leading the way, on and off the ice, contributing in any way possible to the success of a team that is among the favorites to advance out of the Eastern Conference and in to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in four years.

”Everyone’s impressed with how good he looks because of what he went through last year,’’ winger Alex Killorn said. “We’re all excited to see what he can do this year. I know for him it’s been a tough couple of years with injuries and stuff like that but he’s more than happy and excited to get the season started.’’

The process of getting Stamkos ready for the start of the regular season will not be rushed. Though he’s been training extensively since the surgery in November, Stamkos has played a total of 24 games (not counting preseason) since March 31, 2016, when he was diagnosed with a blood clot before the start of the 2016 postseason.

That’s not a lot of hockey in the span of 17 months.

”There’s nothing like a game simulation,’’ Stamkos said. “You try to simulate it and you can’t. We’ll see how camp goes and how it feels. But I want to play that first game and see how it goes. If I’m feeling great than yeah it would be nice to maybe get out to one or two more than I normally would to see how it’s going.’’

Eventually a plan will be put in to place as to how much preseason action Stamkos will see, but it will be determined after a gets on the ice starting Friday at the Ice Sports Forum.

”Each step of training camp is a necessary evil,’’ Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman said. “When you train all summer to be ready for the first day of training camp and you get into the practices and scrimmage and that’s a notch up and then you get into the preseason games is a notch up to lead to the regular season. So everything builds.’’

It’s all building up to what feels like a season for Stamkos to start anew, and it all starts with the first step as he will methodically be brought back up to speed.

”We are going to put Stammer in the best possible position for him to succeed,’’ Cooper said. “To do that everybody has to sit down in the room together and figure out minutes and use and time on the ice and we aren’t going to know that until we get out on the ice the first couple of days and see how he feels. I know he’s been doing all this training, but it doesn’t matter how much training you do, guys go to these (precamp) skates and they are not playing like they are going to be (at practice). But we have a few days to go over all that, but all indications are he looks really good.’’

Which is a really good sign for the Lightning and their captain.

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