Stamkos is ‘not available’ for conference final
Jon Cooper confirmed what had been assumed up until this point: the Lightning will be without their captain when the Eastern Conference final starts on Monday.
Steven Stamkos has not played since Feb. 25 and will not play in the upcoming series as he continues to recover from an injury he said occurred in the “ebbs and flows” of recovery from core muscle repair surgery.
“He’s not available,” Cooper said on Sunday. “He didn’t skate today. He’s not going to play in the series.”
In better news, when asked about Ni kita Kucherov, Cooper said, “Everyone else should be available.”
Kucherov was hurt when he took a stick to the face in last Monday’s clinching Game 5 victory against Boston. He returned to play briefly before leaving again.
Stamkos entered the bubble with the team and was practicing. On July 27, he said he felt the best he’d been. A few days later, he wasn’t able to practice and hasn’t since.
General manager Julien BriseBois said Tuesday the team has not ruled out Stamkos returning in the playoffs. After more than a month off the ice, however, Stamkos would need some time to get into shape, and time is running out with only two rounds of the playoffs left.
He was part of a video the team shared celebrating the five-overtime win over Columbus on Aug. 11. But Stamkos hasn’t specifically been seen since, sparking questions from fans on social media. Most off-ice videos the team shares have a few responses along the lines of, “Is that our captain in the light shoes?”
Cooper has at times been terse in his responses when asked about Stamkos. At one point, he called such questions “pointless.”
“If something’s going to happen and he’s getting close, I will be the first one to tell you,” he said Sunday. “But from here on out, you shouldn’t ask the questions because the answer is not going to change.”
Jan Rutta is also unavailable. The defenseman had been working his way back from a leg injury when he was hurt blocking a shot in the round robin and hasn’t played since.