Stamkos out until May for Lightning with lower-body injury

Steven Stamkos was placed on long-term injured reserve by the Tampa Bay Lightning with a lower-body injury Thursday.

The move is retroactive to April 9. The forward can be activated after 24 days and 10 games from that date, making him eligible to return May 3 (he would miss 12 games in that scenario).The Lightning are scheduled to host the Dallas Stars on May 5, one of their four regular-season games remaining at that point.
"We're extremely optimistic after he comes off the required time amount that he'll be in really good shape to continue playing for us," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Saturday. "We'll see how he rests and body mends a little bit and like I said, hopefully he'll be back on the ice in a week to 10 days and get him back going again and make a push at the end for the playoffs."
Stamkos was injured in the third period of a 6-4 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 8 and did not play at the Nashville Predators on Saturday and Tuesday to end a four-game road trip. He also missed two games Feb. 11 and 13 with a lower-body injury.
"By no means are we sitting here saying his season is over," Cooper said Friday. "This is just something he has to go through here for a little bit. And for us, if we make the playoffs we put him in a position to be in tip-top shape for the playoffs."
Cooper said the injury was not related to an abdominal core muscle injury Stamkos dealt with last season. The Tampa Bay captain had surgery March 2, 2020 and missed most of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a lower-body injury but played five shifts for 2:47 in Game 3 of the Cup Final against the Stars and scored a goal in the 5-2 victory. The Lightning won the best-of-7 series in six games.
"It's a huge loss for our team," forward Pat Maroon said. "I feel bad for 'Stammer'. I just feel like he can't catch a bounce right now and hopefully he's back in the lineup sooner than later. He's very positive right now but it's a huge loss for us.
"He's our captain, he's our goal-scorer and he does a lot of little things that people don't notice. … We've just got to keep being there for him and his teammates have got to support him because he's going through a tough road here."
Stamkos has scored 34 points (17 goals, 17 assists) in 38 games this season and is tied with center Brayden Point for the Tampa Bay lead in goals.
The Lightning (29-12-2) defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2 in overtime at home Thursday and are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for first in the eight-team Discover Central Division; the Hurricanes have one game in hand. The top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.
"It's unfortunate that it happened but as I always say in these situations, maybe it's a little short-term pain for long-term gain," Cooper said. "He's given us a ton here in the first 40-plus games and hopefully he can give us a bunch here in the postseason if we get in."
Maroon said Tampa Bay will employ a group effort in Stamkos' absence.
"We've always had that 'next man up' mentality, no matter who gets in the lineup," Maroon said. "Obviously we missed him throughout the playoffs (last season), but he comes in and scores a big goal for us. He's a game-changer. We're obviously not going to get his scoring touch, but it's 'next man up', just to fill a role to come in and do their job and get this team where it needs to be. This is a huge 12 games coming up and we've just got to get ready and prepare for the playoffs and build our game in the right direction."
Forward
Nikita Kucherov
, who had offseason hip surgery, is not expected back before the end of the regular season, which is scheduled to end May 10 for the Lightning.
"I don't anticipate that happening," Cooper said. "The whole plan for us is to bring 'Stammer' back as soon as he's ready and if 'Kuch' were to be ready, that would be like weeks ahead of schedule … for him to play in the regular season. He's been skating with us, but most of the time he's not with us, he's skating on his own or with the taxi squad. But he's not anywhere near going into contact drills on anything like that. That would be tough."