It started out like any other morning skate - until Steven Stamkos took the ice.
The Lightning captain, clad in a red-non contact jersey, skated with his teammates Tuesday, for the first time since undergoing blot clot surgery April 4th.
"Anytime you can get back from an injury and just be around the guys it's uplifting," said Stamkos.
The obvious questions on everyone's mind- "what does this mean for his return?" "Is he close coming back to the team?" "Will he play against the Islanders?"
"Sometimes tempering those expectations because of, obviously, the severity of what we're dealing with here," said Stamkos. "Obviously, you can't play when you're on the blood thinners that I'm on right now. That's the million-dollar question. 'How long how long do you have to be on those?'"
Stamkos said his original timetable to return remains the same, one to three months. The one month mark is next Wednesday. He said he has no further doctor's appointments planned.
“It's very exciting to see him out there again and I'm sure it is for everyone in the city to see him," said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. "I think it's a little bit of a confidence builder for us as well.”
Stamkos said he loves being around the team, but does not want to be a distraction for their second round series against the Islanders.
“To see him step on the ice and get to zip passes around and shoot pucks and stuff like that I think it makes everyone feel better," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. "Naturally we all want him back, but it's not taking away from the task at hand. “
“We know he's just kind of getting his feet wet again," said Lightning goalie Ben Bishop. "You know we're not sitting here waiting for him to jump back in. We got to worry about ourselves here and the Islanders. But, at the same time it's nice to have him back and out there.”
Game 1 against the Islanders is Wednesday night at Amalie Arena. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
"That's the tough part," said Stamkos. "Feeling physically able to play and not being able to."