Jack Finley looking to bounce back after season-ending injury

The 2020-21 hockey season was setting up to be a pretty important one in the development of Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Jack Finley.
The Bolts' Second Round selection (57th overall) in the 2020 Draft - Tampa Bay's first pick of that draft - Finley signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Tampa Bay on December 12. He was invited to Lightning training camp and got to practice with players who would go on to win their second-straight Stanley Cup seven months later. He made his professional debut with Tampa Bay's American Hockey League affiliate in Syracuse on February 20, 2021 versus Rochester and played in two games with the Crunch before rejoining his junior team, the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League.
Finley was ready to take what he learned from his camp experiences in Tampa Bay and Syracuse and apply them at the junior level. He was selected to be an alternate captain for the Chiefs. He was ready to dominate. He'd yet to do so, he said, at the junior level and felt 2020-21 would be the season.
He never got the opportunity.

In his first week of practice in Spokane, he fell awkwardly on his shoulder. At first, he didn't think too much of the pain, thinking he'd just tweaked something. Certainly he wasn't injured. He'd done something similar a couple times before and was able to play through it.
He contacted the Lightning to tell them what happened. They suggested he get an MRI.
That test revealed two tears in his labrum. Season-ending surgery would be required to repair.

"It was devastating," Finley admitted.
The timetable for Finley to return to action was six months. He would play all of two games in 2020-21, both of those coming in that brief stint with the Crunch.
"It was really frustrating, especially because I was just so excited to play," he said.
Finley is competing this week in his first Prospect Camp with the Lightning - last year's would have been his first but was cancelled due to COVID-19 - and said he's been cleared to play five-and-a-half months following the surgery to repair his shoulder. He's eager to return to game action when Tampa Bay's team of prospects go up against similar squads from Carolina, Florida and Nashville at the 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning Prospect Showcase at AdventHealth Center Ice (note: Tampa Bay's game Saturday versus Nashville will be played 2 p.m. at AMALIE Arena as part of Lightning Launch Weekend).
Syracuse Crunch head coach Benoit Groulx, who is putting the youngsters through the paces during the weeklong Prospect Camp and will be behind the bench this weekend for the Lightning at the Prospect Showcase, is looking forward to having Finley at his disposal too.
Groulx was intrigued by what he saw from Finley in a short amount of time in Syracuse last season.
"After two weeks you see the progression," Groulx said. "And so we get excited by it. He's playing some games and he's going through bumps and it's normal, up and down, but I was very excited by Jack and then he had to go back to junior and then he got injured and all that. I think he's a young player that's got to have a good camp here. I'm excited to see how he's going to do. I think he's got a bright future."
Finley's size is immediately noticeable. Standing 6-foot-6, he's the tallest player on the Lightning's Prospect Camp roster. And at 221 pounds, he has the beef to win more than his fair share of battles, particularly playing at the junior level.
But it's his hockey smarts and his competitiveness that have stood out to Groulx. And he's a player that's easily coachable.
"I think one quality Jack Finley's got, you tell him something and he does it," Groulx said. "I think it's huge. Some guys you tell them something and they don't really pay attention. He pays attention. You tell him something and you can trust him that he's going to try to make it happen."

Finley will be one of the more watched players at the Prospect Showcase, both because of his size and his pedigree as one of the Lightning's recent top draft picks. Groulx will be checking to see how he handles himself against players on the cusp of making it to the NHL. And then how he's able to translate that experience to making more of an impact at whichever level he ends up this season. The Kelowna, British Columbia native should also be on Hockey Canada's radar for a spot on their World Junior Championships roster.
"It's an important season for him," Groulx said. "I can't wait to see him play at this tournament and perform against the men in the NHL. I think he's going to have a good season in Spokane if he goes back obviously. You never know. Hopefully he'll play in the World Junior. He would be a guy that I would take a close look at. I don't know the other guys, but I don't think they have many other 6-foot-6 centermen that can play like him."
Healthy once again, Finley is hoping to put last season's setback behind him. He says he's better for having gone through the experience. When his upper body was out of commission, he used the injury rehab time to work on his lower body, get stronger in his legs and improve his skating.
He's not going to let last year's lost season derail his rapid ascent.
"My mentality coming into camp is I want to make the team," he said. "The way they run it here is they want guys to develop their game in the minors. I think for me, it'd be good to go back one more year in Spokane and kind of figure out my game, get confidence, dominate for a year and when I'm old enough to turn either AHL or NHL then move forward there. All I can do is just do my best, work my hardest and it's in their hands."