Lightning is Stamkos’s team now
‘He’s just jumped right into a playoff push,’ after being named team captain, Tampa Bay coach says
NEW YORK — When Tampa Bay Lightning star Steven Stamkos returned to the lineup March 6 after missing 45 games with a broken leg, it was as if his whirlwind season was only beginning.
The day before, Tampa Bay traded his longtime linemate Martin St. Louis, the Lightning captain, to the New York Rangers for Ryan Callahan and two draft picks. When Stamkos took the ice, he was suddenly the team’s new captain.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” he said last week. “Coming back, getting all excited. Then, obviously, the trade deadline happening, and then being named captain and the expectations I put on myself to come back and produce right away and help this team win.”
In 14 games since returning, Stamkos has nine goals, including a hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs last week. The Lightning, second in the Atlantic Division with a 42-25-9 record, are poised to qualify for the playoffs for only the second time in seven seasons with the Canadiens as their likely firstround opponent.
“He’s just jumped right into a playoff push, and he’s trying to lead our team,” coach Jon Cooper said of Stamkos.
Cooper, who is in his first full season as Lightning coach, called the trade-deadline move a changing of the guard for the organization.
After Stamkos was injured on Nov. 11, Cooper said he “sat there for 24 hours, had a pity party, thought our season might be over.” But he said Tampa Bay’s 2-1 shootout win in Montreal the next night showed: “Wow, we just beat Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens. We can do this.” The Lightning went 22-18-5 without Stamkos, including a 15-9-4 stretch in December and January. St. Louis had 22 goals and 23 assists after Stamkos’s injury, and he also replaced Stamkos on the Canadian Olympic team. But when Stamkos returned, St. Louis was gone.
Stamkos, 24, acknowledged he was still adjusting to life without St. Louis.
“When you’re so used to playing with one player your whole career — tendencies and chemistry — you take that for granted a little bit,” Stamkos said. “We’re more than teammates — we’re going to be lifelong friends for not only how he’s helped me on the ice, but the player and person that he has made me off the ice.
“We’ve talked, and I’m sure we’re going to continue to talk. Obviously, you just wish him the best.”
But Stamkos said what Callahan brings to the team should not be overlooked. Callahan, who turned 29 last week, has six goals and four assists in 14 games since the trade, playing on a line with Valtteri Filppula and Ondrej Palat.
“You know what he’s going to bring to the table every night,” Stamkos said.
“He’s passionate, one of the hardest workers. He’s fearless out there, the amount of shots that he’s blocked, and he’s produced offensively. That line has carried our team since the Olympic break.”
Callahan can become an unrestricted free agent after this season. As for contract talks with Tampa Bay, he said: “They just said get used to us, we’ll get used to you and we’ll go from there.”