Stamkos healthy again as 2021 Training Camp begins

Steven Stamkos is healthy once again and will be a full participant at training camp ahead of the 2021 National Hockey League regular season.
That's what the Tampa Bay Lightning captain told reporters during a Zoom media session on the first day of camp Sunday.

"I'm feeling much better than the last time I was on the ice, that's for sure," he said, smiling.
Stamkos missed the final seven games of the 2019-20 regular season after having surgery to repair a core muscle injury. The thought heading into the restart training camp was the 12-year NHL veteran would be eased into practices and fully ready for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
However, Stamkos suffered what the team labeled a "compensatory injury" in his efforts to get back on the ice and only played 2:47 in the postseason, that coming in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final versus the Dallas Stars when he scored the most iconic goal in Lightning history during one of his five shifts.

Stamkos had another surgery after the playoffs to correct the compensatory injury and has been rehabilitating in an effort to return for the 2021 regular season.
A couple weeks ago, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said he expected Stamkos to be ready for the Bolts' season opener January 13 versus Chicago.
Stamkos was equally optimistic during Sunday's media availability.
"I'll be ready for camp," he said. "Expectation is to have a full camp and be ready for the start of the season. I'm excited about that. It's obviously been a very unusual offseason and got to celebrate there and then went straight to surgery. I've been doing a lot of rehab. I've been at a place now where I'm definitely comfortable on the ice. Looking forward to starting camp and getting on the ice tomorrow."
The Lightning will hold their first on-ice session of training camp Monday at the TGH Ice Plex. The team will be split into two groups, the first group practicing from 10 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. and the second group hitting the ice at 12:45 p.m. until 2 p.m.
Before his injury, Stamkos was having another outstanding season for the Lightning in 2019-20, scoring 29 goals, including a team-most 10 on the power play, and recording 66 points, second highest on the Bolts behind Nikita Kucherov (85 pts.).
The Lightning need a healthy Stamkos in 2021 as Kucherov, their leading scorer each of the last five seasons, will miss the entire regular season after having hip surgery December 29 in New York to correct an injury that had been ailing him throughout the offseason. The surgery corrected the issue, and the hope is Kucherov will be back in time for the postseason should the Lightning qualify.
Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman has been training with Stamkos in preparation for the upcoming season - a number of Bolts stayed in Tampa due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and unknowns about the timing of the 2021 season - and said the captain looks great the times he's seen him on the ice and it's a boon to get one of the best goal scorers in the world back, particularly with the unfortunate news about Kucherov.
"I think each and every one in our room is just so proud of how hard he works all the time, how hard he prepares himself to get back into shape, get back into play action," Hedman said. "He looks unbelievable on the ice. I can tell he's ready to go and is excited about it, and so are we as his teammates."