Tampa Bay Lightning C Steven Stamkos Eager To Get Back On The Ice

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos is eager to get back out on the ice with his teammates during the Eastern Conference Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

There is one thing in this world that tears at the soul of any hockey player, when a player feels good enough to take the ice with their teammates yet their medical condition say they need to sit on the sidelines just a little bit longer. Unfortunately, this is the situation Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos finds himself in as his team makes their way into the 2016 Eastern Conference Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As most of you know by now, Steven Stamkos was sidelined 1-3 months after doctors found a blood clot near his collarbone that required vascular surgery to repair and has left Stamkos on blood thinners ever since. This is the same injury Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy experienced at the beginning of the season that caused him to miss a number of games.

Stamkos’ injury has caused him to miss the entirety of the postseason alongside his teammates. While the team has certainly done well without Stamkos in the lineup, the Tampa Bay Lightning could certainly use someone like Steven Stamkos on the ice; especially against a team like the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Unfortunately, there are still a couple of rather pressing matters to consider when you think about the captain returning to the ice. The first and foremost thing people need to consider is the young Lightning captain’s health. The absolute last thing the team or the Lightning faithful want to see is for Stamkos to return to the ice too soon and end up hurting himself worse or potentially putting himself in a life-threatening situation.

In an interview with Tampa Bay Lightning Beat Writer Bryan Burns, Stamkos expressed his frustration with being held off the ice and his overwhelming desire to rejoin the Lightning lineup in the 2016 Eastern Conference Final.

"“That’s the frustrating part is not knowing when, but I am hopeful that it can be this series.” Stamkos told Burns. “There are instances in players where other guys have changed their blood thinner regiment,” he said. “You don’t necessarily need to be off blood thinners in order to play, there’s different ways around that. That’s something we’ve discussed, and there’s a lot more when you dig deeper into the science of it that there’s ways around it. Obviously we have to make sure there’s zero risk when you’re going out there and playing.”"

The other concern that crosses our mind is what kind of condition he’ll be in when he is finally cleared to take the ice once again. Usually, when a player has missed this much time away from the ice, they are either sent to the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, or they are held off the ice a little longer in order to complete their conditioning in practice.

Unfortunately, the thought of all this has taken our minds back to the 2013 season when Steven Stamkos broke his leg after colliding with the goal post at the TD Garden in Boston. When Stamkos returned to the ice, he astonished everyone by playing some excellent hockey; however, he was not the same Steven Stamkos we have come to know and love.

When he first came back to the ice, he was very apprehensive while skating and seemed to put on the brakes way too soon as he approached the net, which hindered him in breakaways and so much more. While the injury Stamkos suffered in 2013 and the issue he is dealing with now are very different circumstances, there are still some very dangerous drawbacks to coming back too soon.

At this particular moment, it’s hard to say when Steven Stamkos is going to be cleared to make his return to the Lightning roster, but the one thing we know for sure is we don’t want him out on that ice for a single second before he is one hundred percent healthy and has no chance of a recurrence that could be much worse.

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Currently, his status is listed as indefinite. This means he could be ready to play in Game 1 or he may miss the entire series and rejoin the team in the Stanley Cup Finals. Right now, there are more unknowns than knowns. The one thing we can assure you of is the Lightning will keep on fighting, even in their captain’s absence, and continue to fight for what they feel is rightfully their’s…another chance to hold the Stanley Cup high above their heads.