| Yes, you can go home again. Will Stamkos?
|
| TAMPA — It was one thing to help out the Nashville Predators when they were looking to unload some contracts and bring defenseman Ryan McDonagh back into the fold, as the Lightning did in May.
They weren't the same team after McDonagh left following the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, and reacquiring him aligned with their goals of becoming better defensively. McDonagh’s plus-32, tied for second-best among NHL defensemen, shows that after a couple of years away, putting that lightning bolt back on can rejuvenate you. Plus, his return has done wonders for pairing partner Erik Cernak.
But then the Lightning reacquired Yanni Gourde (along with Oliver Bjorkstrand), too, at the trade deadline. Gourde didn't bring Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow back with him, so the energy line that was the pulse of back-to-back Cup teams won’t be duplicated. Even if he had, it wouldn't be the same.
Still, the Lightning bringing back two key members of their championship teams shows that, yes, a player can go home again.
Paging Steven Stamkos?
No, No. 91 isn’t walking through that door anytime soon. But we never thought we’d see McDonagh or Gourde back in a Lightning uniform, either, and here they are playing similar roles on a much different roster in their mid-30s.
It remains to be seen whether Gourde can be the impact player he was previously with the Lightning, but he’ll be given every chance to show it. In Seattle, he was called upon to be more of a leader, a voice in the room, on an expansion team. But he still played in a matchup-line role, sometimes alongside Bjorkstrand, and brings the same energy that made him a fan favorite in Tampa Bay.
Though Gourde never wanted to leave, sometimes time away can help. He knows from personal experience the winning culture that pervades the Lightning dressing room, and he returns as a player willing to do anything to get another shot at a Cup because he knows he doesn't have many left.
Power play? Where do you want him? Third line? Sure. Top line along with Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point? Sign him up.
Coach Jon Cooper doesn’t hesitate to switch up his lines. Sometimes it’s due to an opponent, sometimes it’s because a line needs a “reset,” like when he sat Nikita Kucherov recently against Buffalo. But when it comes to Gourde, there’s no one who knows where he can be successful more than Cooper.
The same goes for Stamkos. Yes, he’s playing better in Nashville, and maybe he just needed time following the Predators' horrendous start. He has five goals and nine points in his last four games after going 13 straight without a point.
It might take a couple of seasons, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Lightning bring Stamkos back. There is a precedent now.
It would be a beautiful thing to see him and Victor Hedman end their careers together. Of course, the money would have to work. But Stamkos no longer would face the mountain of pressure that had been on his shoulders as the face of the Lightning while bringing back his unparalleled leadership and lethal one-timer to a franchise that still could use both.
|
