In the past few hours it has become clear that Steven Stamkos is not entirely as human as the rest of us. He held a press conference this morning and unlike a human being, he’s no longer on crutches, isn’t wearing a boot, and is already putting full weight on his broken leg. There is still no timeline for his return to the Lightning, but this does seem like a sign that things are, at the very least, on track.
In his twenty minutes of answering questions Stamkos talked about feeling the bone move (ewww…), what happened on the play, the joy of painkillers, and the fact that he hasn’t missed a game due to a real injury since he was nine years old.
“I never missed a game in junior. I broke my foot my last year of minor hockey, but I played with it. I’d have to go back, maybe I was eight, nine years old and missed a game or something…I think I missed one game at the World Championship but that was more of a precautionary thing. If it was a regular season game I probably wouldn’t have missed it.”
Claude Julien of the Boston Bruins visited him in the hospital. And Stamkos is thinking about the Olympics, but is more concerned about the Lightning’s playoff hopes.
Take a listen. There’s a lot more in there about what he’s doing for rehab, some medical info, and how he’s staying positive. Audio can be found here.
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[UPDATE: Here’s a video the Lightning posted on their website. It’s only 7 minutes for those who don’t have the time to listen to the whole audio from above.]
