TAMPA, Fla. – You have to feel for Steven Stamkos.
A Thursday practice at Amalie Arena brought about another long hard skate for the Tampa Bay Lightning captain and another round of questions about his uncertain playing status. It also brought him one day closer to the end of the season.
Stamkos said there was a 95 per cent chance he would be unable to play Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final on Friday night and offered insight into the complexity of the decision facing him, his family and the Lightning when trying to gauge if he should play while taking blood-thinning medication.
“I don’t think in this situation you’re going to get a 100 per cent green light or a 100 per cent red light,” said Stamkos. “I mean that’s just the way it is. It’s just something that hasn’t been studied and there hasn’t been a lot of data on when it’s safe to come back from something like this.
“The more opinions you get, the more information you gather, sometimes the more confusing it gets.”
It was a cruel bit of misfortune that struck the 26-year-old when a blood clot was found near his right collarbone late in the regular season. He had surgery on April 4 and has been receiving two daily injections of the Lovenox blood-thinning drug ever since.
Had this happened in July or October or even December the consequences wouldn’t be quite as severe.
Instead, Stamkos has been forced to watch the Lightning chase a Stanley Cup without him. Now down 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins – and having been soundly outplayed in a Game 3 loss on home ice – the pull is the currently strongest to make a return.
What might be most impressive about the way Stamkos has faced this situation is the perspective he’s maintained while working through it. He certainly doesn’t leave you with the impression he’s willing to do anything risky or cavalier.
“I’m a professional hockey player, but there are things you have to definitely consider other than hockey,” said Stamkos. “It’s tough, especially when you’re in the moment like I am right now. It’s easier said than done if you’re not in playoffs right now and just going your normal protocol and we’re not thinking about different ways to be able to come back safely.”
The initial prognosis was that he would be out one to three months after surgery. The wide berth is a testament to the fact that no two people experience the same symptoms while recovering.
Other hockey players in the past have been able to find a cycle with their blood-thinning medication where they’re able to play. Stamkos can recite their cases by heart – mentioning earlier in the week that he read an article on Kimmo Timonen and Tomas Fleischmann that provided some hope.
What he doesn’t yet have is enough information about his own case beyond the fact that tests have shown he’s making progress.
“That three months is just a standard thing,” said Stamkos. “If we weren’t in the playoffs, I’d continue treatment for three months and we wouldn’t have a story about it. There’s no data on six weeks vs. three months, or one and a half months vs. three months. Is there really a big difference? No one’s done that really before.
“There could be no difference at all, but obviously when you’re talking about something with the severity that the surgery and procedure was, you’re going to err on the side of caution for the most part.”
What it means for Stamkos is that eventually a decision will have to be made. Either he, the doctors and the Lightning will find enough comfort to allow him to play or he’ll shut things down for the season.
We haven’t reached that point yet so he continues to work.
That means going through practice with his teammates and staying on the ice for a long bag skate afterwards. Because of that routine the star centre believes he might be in the best shape of his life.
“I will just continue to work hard on the ice,” said Stamkos. “Whether it’s after practice skating, or in the gym pushing the sled. It’s just whatever I’ve got to do to give myself the chance if that day comes (that I can play). If not, at least I can say that I did my part.”
That’s all he’s got right now. A lot of hard work in the face of fading hope.
