Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, who appeared in just one playoff game for the Stanley Cup Champions, scoring one goal in just 2:47 of ice time in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals and never returned after that, underwent core repair surgery Wednesday, according to The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required). Stamkos is expected to be ready for the start of the 2020-21 season.
Tampa Bay general manager Julien BriseBois said that Stamkos went to see a specialist earlier this week where it was determined that he required a second surgery, this time on his left-sided lower abdominal core muscle.
The 30-year-old underwent core muscle surgery in March and was expected to miss six to eight weeks, but was not ready to go when the playoffs started in August. He went to Toronto with his team and practiced, but was never comfortable enough to play throughout the playoffs. He had a solid regular season with 29 goals and 66 points in 57 games last season before undergoing surgery.
Stammers, please take your time with the rehab and don’t rush it… (like you really need to hear that from any of us!) Congrats on the extra hardware you earned!