Last summer, the big question was whether or not Steven Stamkos would re-sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Stamkos will again be the main focus of the Bolts' offseason.
This time, however, the question is different: can the Lightning captain ever stay healthy enough to be a major contributor for a full season?
Since the highs of his first taste of a Stanley Cup Final in 2015, Steven Stamkos has dealt with his share of lows.
The lows of injuries, rehab, and time away from the game he loves.
“Your first five, six years you go through scot free and you think, ‘this is great’,” Stamkos said. “You’re never going to get hurt. You’re never going to have to deal with that stuff. But when you go through it, it’s definitely frustrating.”
Stamkos never returned to game action after tearing the meniscus in his right knee in mid-November.
After playing the first 17 games of the 2016-17 season, Stamkos missed the final 65 in his first year of his new eight-year, $68 million contract.
Lightning fans, and Stamkos himself, had hoped he could return to give the Bolts a late-season boost.
But Stammer admits his day-to-day status during the final month of the season may have sent false signals.
He may not have been available in the playoffs even if Tampa Bay had made it.
“I don’t think it was as close as everyone thought- maybe that we had thought at one time,” Stamkos said. “I think we got a little ahead of ourselves.”
Stamkos lost 15 pounds, a lot of it muscle weight, while he was on crutches for 6 1/2 agonizing weeks.
Even more painful was the added frustration of this being the second straight year that "Stammer" had missed significant action.
A blood clot cost him last year's playoffs, minus his return for the end of the Eastern Conference Final series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Stamkos has missed key games in three of the past four seasons due to injuries and health issues.
“You hope that this is the end,” Stamkos said. “I mean, things happen in threes. So hopefully that’s it. I’m sick of not being able to be on the ice with the guys, but you do learn a lot about yourself and your mental toughness when you go through something like this.”
Due to the significance of the injury, Stamkos says he’ll skate and also rehab with a therapist in both Tampa and Toronto throughout the entire summer.
Having a longer offseason will help, too.
“The more time you give it, the more healing that’s going to be done,” Stamkos said. “The more comfortable you’re going to be and the stronger it’s going to get. So sometimes when you come back mid-season you don’t really get the full advantage of having summer to go and just really focus on that.”
And he expects to be back to 100 percent heading into training camp.