Tampa Bay Lightning superstar Steven Stamkos said there is no timetable for his return from a gruesome broken tibia suffered last month, but the 23-year-old is hopeful that he will be able to make a return for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi after having surgery on the broken tibia that sidelined him indefinitely on Nov. 12.
According to TSN, Lightning star has cited Feb. 6, 2014 as his possible return date, but Stamkos said that it wasn't set in stone, just a date that he set as a goal for himself so that he wouldn't lose his spot on the Canadian Olympic team.
"It's impossible to tell, really," Stamkos said of his recovery timeline, according to NHL.com. "I mentioned in my press conference I'd love to come back and play a couple games and be able to play in the Olympics. That's my goal. You have to have a goal and you work towards your goal."
Stamkos, who has been adamant about not appearing at the Olympics unless he is 100 percent, would have two games on the regular NHL schedule before the Olympic break if he was able to return on Feb. 6.
"You have no say in that, in getting clearance just to skate or to have contact and be cleared to play," Stamkos told NHL.com. "If the bone is fully healed, for some people it's less time, for some people it's more. That's why we can't have the guessing games of when I can be back. If everything goes well and the bone heals the way it's supposed to, I'd love to be back then but we won't know until that point."
Stamkos attended the Lightning's practice Wednesday and sat on the bench stick handling but couldn't skate or stand as he recovers from the foot injury.
"I just wanted to get a feel for the stick," Stamkos said via NHL.com.
Stamkos talked about his recovery process following watching the team practice.
"It's a little bit of a Groundhog Day," he said per NHL.com. "The first two weeks you're excited, you're coming to the rink, you're seeing a lot of progression now, you're walking around, you're stable, you're fine. Now it's just kind of a daily thing when we're doing a lot of the same exercises and stuff. It gets tough coming to the rink and not being able to go on the ice. As much as it hurts me to say this, you miss practicing and you miss skating, and you miss those days where it's a tough practice."
Prior to his injury, Stamkos was the Lightning's leading scorer notching 23 points off of 14 goals and nine assists through 17 games. It remains to be seen if he'll be healthy enough to represent Canada in the Olympics, but for now it's his goal.
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