Steven Stamkos is no stranger to injury setbacks.
The Tampa Bay Lightning captain missed out on an opportunity to represent Canada at the 2014 Olympics due to a broken leg. He missed 16 of 17 games during his team’s run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2016 as he recovered from a surgery he required to treat thoracic outlet syndrome. Then this past season he missed 65 games after sustaining a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee on in November.
Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman said earlier in the summer he expects Stamkos to be ready for training camp and the Markham, Ont., native appears to be as eager as any player for the 2017-18 campaign to get underway.
The 27-year-old tweeted the following video of him doing some edge work.
Stamkos was among the league leaders in scoring, registering 20 points in 17 games, prior to suffering the injury that cost him the remainder of the 2016-17 season.
Him not being available, plus Ryan Callahan missing 64 games, contributed to the Lightning failing to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the first time since 2013 despite being considered one of the pre-season favourites to win the Eastern Conference.
Stamkos returned to practice late in the regular season, but never saw game action.
“It’s frustrating from an individual perspective where I want to be out there trying to help my team—especially at this [time of] year—but it just doesn’t feel right,” he said back in April. “This was pretty major. There’s a lot of working parts when it comes to the knee with having the tissue heal, dealing with scar tissue, things that are kind of behind-the-scenes that have been tough.”
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