Stamkos prepares for an emotional return to face Lightning with Predators

For sixteen years, Steven Stamkos walked through the same doors, passed the same people, passed through the same corners. The hellos, the interactions, the steps became comfortable, familiar, part of the life that wrapped around life in the Tampa, Florida, area around the Tampa Bay Lightning.

He got to know them. His family got to know them.

They became part of him.

When Stamkos returns to Amalie Arena as a visitor for the first time, when he walks through a different door and into a different locker room, the memories will continue to haunt him.

This was his life. These were his people. But not anymore.

“That’s probably going to be the hardest part, emotionally, it’s just the relationships that my family has had with everyone,” Stamkos said. “The workers at the rink, the staff, everyone within the organization, the friends we made outside of the game. That’s the part that gets to you, I think.

After spending his entire NHL career with the Lightning since being taken No. 1 overall in the 2008 NHL Draft, Stamkos signed with the Nashville Predators as a free agent on July 1, agreeing to a four-year, $32 million contract ( $8 million). average annual value). On Monday, Stamkos returns to Tampa, playing for the first time in the building he called home as a visitor (7:30 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+, TVAS) when the Lightning (5-3-0) host the Predators (3-5-0).

“It’s hard for me to get there mentally or emotionally without being there physically,” Stamkos said at the start of the season. “Someone will bring it up and I’ll think, ‘Yeah, there’ll be a lot of friends and family and stuff going to that game.’ But it only really clicks, I think, when you’re on the way to the rink and then you start seeing things and people.”

It’s a moment he never expected to happen.

Until the final minutes, until he signed, Stamkos never quite believed that this was the end for him with the Lightning. And neither does anyone else.

“It was obviously tough,” said defenseman Victor Hedman, who was named captain of the Lightning in the wake of Stamkos’ departure as the forward’s replacement. “We kept in touch a lot, but when we realized on July 1 that he wasn’t coming back, it was shocking and difficult.”

Stamkos had come to define the Lightning during his 16 seasons with them, rising to captain in 2014, playing the most games (1,082) in franchise history, also scoring the most goals (555) and points (1,137) and winning the Stanley Twice cup (2020, 2021).

“One of the best ever to wear a Lightning jersey,” Hedman said in September. “Five hundred goals, 1,000 points, 1,000 games, two Stanley Cups, multiple trophies, and being captain for over a decade.

“Everything speaks for itself, but only the person himself will be missed in the dressing room, on the road, everywhere. Obviously it’s going to be a lot different going into that locker room and not seeing No. 91.

Stamkos, who scored one goal in eight games with Nashville, returns, likely to a thunderous ovation in an arena full of fans who still love him, who know what he meant to them and how much he wanted to return.