Stamkos says he'll be ready for Lightning if NHL season resumes

Steven Stamkos said the pause to the NHL season has allowed him to recover from surgery and he'd be ready to play for the Tampa Bay Lightning if it restarts.

"With the timing of all this, it was devastating at the beginning, because I thought I would be possibly missing some [Stanley Cup] Playoff games," Stamkos said in a video posted by the Lightning on Friday. "And the stoppage happened, we didn't know how long it was going to be, so the kind of silver lining in that was I'll be ready when we resume."

The forward had surgery March 2 to repair a core muscle injury and missed seven games before the NHL paused the season March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. He was expected to need 6-8 weeks to recover; the regular season was scheduled to end April 4.

"I've been able to still use this time to rehab," the Lightning captain said. "I've been going to the rink three times a week to skate, and just start feeling normal again. So I guess I have a chance to get out of the house and do that, obviously safely, with all the guidelines we have within our community."

Injured players are allowed to use team facilities within local regulations related to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no timetable for the NHL to return to play.

"He improves every single day," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said Friday. "I have no idea when things are going to get back together, but we have anticipated that all of our guys will be ready to go when that time comes. We know it's not coming tomorrow and probably not next week, but when the time comes, we anticipate everyone will be ready.

"I know he's worked hard to get back. A lot of it had to do with rest, which he's been getting."

Stamkos is second on the Lightning with 29 goals and 66 points, behind Nikita Kucherov in each category (33, 85). Tampa Bay (43-21-6) is in second place in the Atlantic Division, eight points behind the Boston Bruins.

NHL.com independent correspondent Corey Long contributed to this report