This series was created with the intention of keeping the memory of Steven Stamkos fresh in everyone’s minds while he missed time with the third major injury of his career. So it makes sense to give an update every once in awhile as to how the rehab is going. With an injury such as the one Stamkos suffered, there are rarely day-to-day updates.
On Tuesday we reached out to the Lightning to see if they could give us an update and they responded with, “No update. He continues to rehab.”
This, honestly, is what we expected to hear. It would have been odd if they went into detail, Well, Raw Charge we’re glad to say he is doing pretty good. He put in about 45 minutes on the bike and hit 20 mph on a 12 intensity, then he did 25 squats with 275lbs on the bar followed by 3 sets of 30 on the leg extensions. All those numbers are way better than last week, thanks for asking!
A few days ago Joe Smith with the Tampa Bay Times was able to glean a bit more information from the organization when got Steve Yzerman to say, “Everything is encouraging” in regards to his star center’s rehab. It’s nice that at least one thing is “encouraging” for this team right now.
Smith also wrote that Stamkos has been “given the green light to increase his workload,” and estimates that 91 should be back on the ice in March. That’s great for the team, kind of bad for the timeline of this project, though. [Don’t worry, I’ll hold you to finishing it. – Acha]
There was also a Stamkos sighting at the Lightning’s practice on January 2. Lightning Insider Erik Erlendsson snapped a photo of Stamkos on the bike during the team’s workout in Brandon.
Steven Stamkos working out on an exercise bike as #tblightning practice today pic.twitter.com/8MGxRTMlxD
— Erik Erlendsson (@Erik_Erlendsson) January 2, 2017
In case you were wondering, that is Brayden Point relaxing in the comfortable-looking chairs in front of Stamkos. The rookie is about halfway through his own rehab (hopefully), and has been on the ice for warmups prior to games.
Back in December, Smith wrote a piece on the timeline for recovery for a meniscus tear. If everything is progressing on time, Stamkos should be at the point where he is building resistance and able to start sport-specific exercises.
He is still probably a few weeks away from returning to the ice, and even further away from actual practices, so patience is still a virtue for now. Knowing how dedicated and competitive Stamkos is, the Lightning staff is probably having more trouble from him trying to do too much as opposed to too little working out.
The good news is that once he has the strength built back up in the leg, he shouldn’t have to worry about re-injuring it in the future. So when he’s back on the ice, he should be able to ramp up to speed fairly quickly. It will be interesting to see if the Lightning insert him directly into the line-up or if he gets a game or two in Syracuse to work out the rust.
That decision will probably be based on how close the Lightning are to a playoff spot when he is ready. If they are comfortably in, then they can spare him for another game or two. If they’re fighting for every point, they might just throw him out on the ice and hope for the best.
That’s a decision that is at least two months out. For now we can focus on the team on the ice and hope that they figure out a way to stay in the race until their captain is healthy.
