Erne ready to build off last season's success, put injury behind him

After years of struggling to make it to the National Hockey League, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Adam Erne was finally starting to find his place during the second half of the 2017-18 season.

Erne was recalled from Syracuse on February 8 and immediately joined the Lightning lineup, scoring a goal in his first game of the season later that night versus Vancouver. From that moment, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound winger was a regular for the Bolts. He played in 23-straight games, putting up three goals and an assist while giving Tampa Bay's forward group an added, missing element with his physical play to complement the Bolts' smaller, speedier players. It looked like Erne might be a factor for the Lightning during their postseason run.
But after sustaining a lower-body injury March 26 versus Arizona, Erne was never able to get healthy again to make an impact. He missed the final six games of the regular season and all 17 postseason games.
As Lightning training camp enters day three of on-ice action, Erne is right back where he started at the beginning of last season: trying to earn a spot.
"(The injury) sucked for sure," Erne said. "It was at a point in time when I was trying to be a regular in the lineup. That was my motivation in the offseason: Put in that extra work and catch up to everybody, get ready for the season."

The former second round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft said he never fully recovered from his injury until two or three weeks after the Lightning exited the playoffs, once he was able to take time off and give it time to heal. When he went to work preparing for the upcoming season, Erne used his successful albeit brief stint in the NHL as incentive. He switched trainers and had what he called the "best offseason" of his career.
"We really focused on cardio and speed," he said. "I've always been a stronger guy, but those were two areas I needed to work on."
With Chris Kunitz leaving the team in the offseason via free agency and Ryan Callahan injured to start the season, a couple spots appear to be open on the Lightning's fourth line. Erne would seem to be a natural for that role, his imposing frame and physical game a natural for the bruising nature of the fourth line, and his experience with the team last season giving him a leg up on the competition. But despite a successful stint with the Bolts pre-injury, Erne realizes he still has to fight to earn a roster spot out of training camp.
"I'm just trying to focus on proving myself," he said. "I think so far I haven't really proven much. Obviously, there are some spots open but nothing's set in stone. I have to come here every day and work hard and just try to earn a spot."
Erne re-signed a one-year contract with Tampa Bay in the offseason. In many ways, this season may be the most important of Erne's young career, one in which he must continue to build off the promise he displayed last season and show he's worth signing to a longer-term deal.
"His testing came in well. That's the first thing. You want to see that," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "It looks like he was responsible over the summer looking after himself. But he's shown some pretty good burst here in camp. There are spots open on this team, and he's looking to make sure he grabs one and take a step ahead of what he did last year.

SCRIMMAGE NOTES: For the third-consecutive day, the Lightning held an intra-squad scrimmage midway through practice sessions.
Sunday's scrimmage was the most intense yet.
In a game that featured hard hits, fast skating and relentless back-and-forth action, Ross Colton scored a goal early for the White team, which was led by NHL All-Stars Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman. Colton scored in Saturday's scrimmage too.
"He showed one heck of a burst of speed in yesterday's scrimmage when he got himself open, got past the defenseman and scored one whale of a goal," Cooper said. "You make plays like that, it makes a good impression on the coaching staff. He's got some wheels. We've got seven exhibition games, hopefully we can get some of these guys, including Colton, into one of them."
The Blue team, which featured Tyler Johnson, J.T. Miller and Anton Stralman, equalized on Otto Somppi's goal.
With the score tied 1-1 after regulation, the game was decided by a shootout. Alex Barre-Boulet was the only player from either team to convert, beating Andrei Vasilevskiy to the far post to give team Blue the victory.
"It was intense. Guys want to prove that they can play," Barre-Boulet said of the scrimmage. "It was clean though, no cheap shots."