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Stamkos As Frustrated As You Are

May 16, 2016, 9:45 AM ET [9 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Updated:

Steven Stamkos wants you to know that he is taking the same blood thinners today as he was on April 4, the day he had surgery to remove a blood clot from his collarbone. Stamkos cleared up any misinformation with his scrum on Monday.

Stamkos took part in the optional skate on Monday then spoke with media afterwards.

"I think there was a little confusion in some of the articles that came out , with regards to me switching medications," said Stamkos.

"I've been on the same medication from Day One. I don't know if that was misinterpreted, or maybe I said the wrong thing, but I'm on the same medication I've been on since Day One. It's an injectable blood thinner.

"There's different regimens, and by that I mean different ways that you can go around that in order to still play. If there's any confusion there, that can be cleared up. I haven't changed any medication. I've been on that injectable since my surgery. You get into the complexity of it, it lasts in your body for a certain amount of hours. There's certainly cases where guys in the NHL have played on the same medication that I've been on with altering your routine. That's something that we're experimenting."



Tampa Bay leads the best-of-7 series 1-0.

"There's still a chance that I can play in this series. There's still a chance I may not be able to play for the rest of the playoffs," Stamkos said. "That's honestly the truth. It's tough for me to feel so physically close, but like I said before, whether it's Game 3 or 4 or 5, or whether it's coming to the reality that it's not in the best interests of my long-term health to play in the playoffs, those are questions that we're closer and closer to getting answered every day. Like I said, we're doing our due diligence with regards to making sure we're seeing the right medical personnel and getting all the opinions that we can and going forward from there.

"I'm just as frustrated as you guys, having to sit here and answer the same questions while you guys ask the same questions. But I'm asking those questions too every day and I get the same answers back. That's the tough part right now. I'm just trying to give myself a chance that if that day comes where we speak with the docs and we feel as a group, my family, that it's safe to get back on the ice, then I certainly will."

Thanks, lightning.nhl.com






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Steven Stamkos has been researching a form of therapy that may get him back on the ice for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

If Stamkos finds his way back to the Bolts' starting lineup, former Philadelphia Flyers D-man Kimmo Timonen will certainly get a primary assist.

Stamkos skated in a full contact practice on Sunday. He got through the sessions unscathed. Afterwards, Stamkos spoke to the Toronto Sun about how he is experimenting with an injectable medication that possiblly could expefite and accelerate his return to the ice for Game 3 of the ECFs.

On April 4, Stamkos underwent vascular surgery to remove blood clots that formed near his right collarbone.

Stamkos has been on conventional oral blood thinners since his surgery date. Many NHL players, more than you know about, suffer from blood clot issues. Clots form as a result of players blocking shots and getting checked into stationary walls that are anchored in concrete. Blood clots routinely mobilize and move around inside a players' body while they fly at altitude in team airplanes or while they play in games.

The NHL has rules in place that prohibit their players from participating in games while on Coumadin therapy and other blood thinning agents. Why? NHLers are susceptible to bleeding via fighting, body checks, high sticks and pucks to the face. One simple contusion could be diastrous to the player on blood thinners.

I once wore a thirty in the early '90s that read:

"Give Blood. Play Hockey".

True that.


Stamkos has been looking at Timonen as his role model and inspiration for clot management.

“There’s different ways around it when it comes to that,” Stamkos said on Sunday.

“There’s different options that we’ve explored. There’s injectable blood-thinning medication that I’m on right now.

“There have been guys that have played in this league who are on it.”

Enter Kimmo Timonen, who developed a routine with the injectable blood thinning medication last season.

Stamkos is ruled out for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final against the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, he did participate in drills and skills in Bolts practice jersey on Sunday.

“There’s an article I was reading the other day about Timonen and (Tomas) Fleischmann – last year Timo (did it) before he got traded,” Stamkos said. “He was on the same regiment where he would inject after a game and then hold off, play, and then do that. There’s different stages. We’re obviously working through all of that stuff, looking at different options.

“I think for me too even just being able to read articles like that and know guys have done that puts your mind at ease a little bit.”


Will Stamkos perform the Timonen Technique in Game 3 in Tampa?
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