Another day of recovery means another day of optimism for Canada’s greatest sniper.
Steven Stamkos was encouraged by how his body felt after his first full practice with his Tampa Bay Lightning teammates Thursday and returned to the ice again Friday.
Stamkos approached the team’s assistant athletic trainer, Mike Poirier, and said he felt strong enough to practise just over two months since snapping his right tibia on a goalpost in a Nov. 11 game in Boston.
The drills he ran in a red no-contact sweater went better than expected, Stamkos says, although when he puts torque on that right leg during tight turns and crossovers he feels a twinge of pain. Caution kicks in. The Team Canada selection is healing at a terrific rate but doesn’t want to risk a setback.
“Your body’s pretty good at letting you know what you can and cannot do, so we’ve just been trying to follow how I’ve been feeling and try to get better each day, and I’ve done that so far,” Stamkos tells sportsnet.ca.
So when will Stamkos be haunting goaltenders again? Only the bone knows.
Lightning broadcaster Phil Esposito said he believed the star forward, who has already been travelling with the team, could return during Tampa’s four-game road trip beginning Jan. 28 in Toronto. A miraculous (or at least scientifically impressive) comeback for the Markham, Ont., native at Air Canada Centre mere days prior to the Winter Games’ Opening Ceremonies … well, that might draw a scrum. But Stamkos is tempering expectations.
“That’s two weeks away. I’d say there’s a slim chance I’ll be playing in that game,” Stamkos says. “I’d love to come back and play a couple of games before the Olympics. My main priority is still the Tampa Bay Lightning, so if I can play a couple games before the Olympics, that’s icing on the cake.
“Whether that’s at the end of January or the beginning of February, that is a goal.”
Make no mistake: Sochi is Stamkos’s target here. That’s what he’s lifting, icing and elevating towards.
The Lightning will have a two-game home stand prior to the Olympic break as the pleasant surprise of the Eastern Conference hosts the Maple Leafs on Feb. 6 and the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 8. Those are the dates circled on his calendar. (Fun fact: Sandwiched between those games is Stamkos’s 24th birthday, Feb. 7.)
Yet Canada’s first game of the Olympic draw doesn’t take place until Feb. 13. So what happens if the 60-goal man can’t shake off some rust in the NHL before heading overseas?
“Obviously, I’d love to still play having played a couple or no games, but that’s out of my hands,” Stamkos says. National teams can replace an injured player up until Feb. 12. “That’s a decision [Steve Yzerman and the selection committee] are going to have to make. Do they bring someone else over in case there are injuries who can play for sure, or do they take a chance that I’m going to feel great and get back?”
Thus far—knock on wood, fans of any team managed by Yzerman—the world’s most dangerous goal-scorer has felt better every day he’s woken up since Nov. 11. A natural centreman, Stamkos’s first choice would be to play on Sidney Crosby’s wing. But after being passed over for the 2010 gold-medal team, he’ll be happy to take what he can get.
“It’s so cliché to say you’d play whatever role you’re asked, but it’s the truth. Everyone checks their egos at the door when it comes to playing on a stage like this,” Stamkos says. “Everyone realizes they’re not going to be playing 20 minutes a night like on their club teams. Guys take different roles and do whatever it takes to win a gold medal.”
The bone, however, comes first. If his shin isn’t healed, if the doctors and Yzerman don’t both give him the green light, then it’s out of his control. The X-rays Stamkos has seen for each of the past nine weeks have looked “great,” and he’s hopeful that trend continues when he goes for his Week 10 X-ray next in a few days.
Point blank, Stamkos says he is confident the bone will be healed by early February and that he will indeed pull on a red and white sweater in Sochi.
“At this point, I have to be,” he says. “The mind is powerful thing. The way I think has an effect. I have to think positively, and that’s a goal of mine. I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen. If it doesn’t, then I can at least look myself in the mirror and say I did everything possible to give myself a chance.”
