Stamkos broke his tibia on Nov. 11 against the Boston Bruins and has been sidelined ever since. There have been numerous moments during the star forward’s absence where it seemed he was on the verge of returning, even in time for the Olympics, only for him not to receive clearence. But judging by his tweet earlier Wednesday, his return date of March 6 seems pretty definite:

Just left the doctors office. Got the green light. See you tomorrow Bolts fans. Excited to be back !!

— Steven Stamkos (@RealStamkos91) March 5, 2014

Stamkos released a longer statement, through the Lightning, about his recovery and return:

“Today is obviously an exciting day for me. Adversity is a good test and you’re going to have to go through it in your career, so you hope it makes you a better player and a better person. I have a new perspective on my career as a professional athlete and how hard you have to work to maintain that. I’d like to thank the training staff for their dedication and hard work, ensuring that I got back into the lineup as quickly as possible.”

Stamkos had recorded 14 goals and nine assists in 17 games prior to the injury, and he’ll need to be every bit that good now. He returns to a Lightning squad that, in addition dealing away St. Louis, hasn’t been performing well as of late. Tampa is 3-7-0 in its last 10 games and has lost two straight. The Bolts are in the third spot in the Atlantic, but are just five points up on both Detroit and Washington for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

It’s become a very interesting day in Tampa Bay. We’ll see if anything else follows, especially since Ryan Callahan, the key piece returning in the St. Louis deal, is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, potentially providing with some flexibility.


RE-CAP-TURE THE MAGIC 


Jaroslav Halak, starting NHL goalie, exists at least partially because of a first-round upset of the Washington Capitals back in 2010. Now, because life is funny, Halak is headed to Washington in a deadline deal. The Caps get their old nemesis and a third-round draft pick for Michal Neuvirth and the recently acquired Rostislav Klesla, who spent less than 24 hours on the roster.

For those who don’t remember, Halak played out of his mind in the Canadiens' upset over the top-seeded Capitals in ’10, including games where he stopped 45 of 47 shots, 37 of 38, 53 of 54 and finally, 41 of 42 in Game 7. He played pretty well against the Penguins, but didn’t face the barrage he survived against in the Capitals series. He parlayed that into a contract with the Blues, since the Canadiens decided to keep Carey Price and not him — a move that looks pretty good today.

The truth was Halak could never be as good over a regular season as he was over that series (no one could be), but he was not bad in St. Louis. He’s had above-average and excellent even-strength save percentages in his career, mixed in with some below average ones. This season he’s been in the excellent category, with a .928 mark in 40 games. As noted earlier this week, that was slightly better than the guy who replaced him in St. Louis, Ryan Miller (.926).

However, it should also be noted that Halak’s numbers are not all that much better than Caps starter Braden Holtby. Holtby’s even-strength save percentage checks in a .924. He’s been slightly worse than Halak on the penalty kill, but the sample isn’t large enough to draw any conclusions on it anyway.

Halak may be better than the guy he was dealt for, though. Neuvirth, 25, managed a .912 even-strength save percentage in 13 games this season. That’s not a large sample, but over the course of his career, Neuvirth has never posted above-average numbers.

Overall, it’s not a bad gamble for the Capitals. They get someone to compete with Holtby and hope one of them gets hot down the stretch. If he doesn’t pan out, they didn’t trade any irreplaceable assets in the deal. Of course the fans may feel differently, since Halak's run ruined the season of arguably the Capitals' best team of the Ovechkin era. Unless he backstops them to a Cup run, it's unlikely anything he does in Washington is going to make up for that.  And if he somehow costs them a playoff spot or playoff game ...

As for the Sabres, Buffalo probably never was going to try to re-sign Halak anyway, so they get Neuvirth for a year and reduce their cap hit by a million. He can compete with Jhonas Enroth, and the Sabres can see if they want to go forward with either guy in goal. It's a by-the-book move for a team in full rebuild.


YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG, ISLES


Thomas Vanek is a Montreal Canadien. It's a great deal for the Habs — but we'll talk about that later.

For now, let's focus on the fact that the New York Islanders, a few months after giving up Matt Moulson and a first-round pick to get Vanek, flipped him for … actually, can you call it a "flip" when your return isn't all that great? The Isles, in return for a 30-goal scorer, received prospect Sebastien Collberg and a second-round pick only if Montreal makes the playoffs. They also gave Montreal a fifth-round pick.

That, good as Vanek is, made the deal the best of the NHL trade deadline. Montreal is a lot better, and the Isles managed to turn Moulson, Vanek and a first-rounder into a prospect and a second-round pick. Maybe.

So, people are mad — including none other than John Spano, who fraudulently attempted to buy the Islanders in the mid-1990s. He had words for Charles Wang, who legitimately bought the team in his wake.

Dear C. Wang. It is a privilege to own the NY Islanders. Maybe it is time for u to sell. We have caused this fan base enough heartache.

— John Spano (@MrJohnSpano) March 5, 2014

At least he said "we."

Wang and Mike Milbury, next time they see each other, can bond over being chirped by Spano.

Elsewhere on Twitter, scorn was more reserved for Islanders general manager Garth Snow.


THE BREAKUP


The Tim Thomas-Roberto Luongo buddy movie has died before it had a chance to live.

The Florida Panthers, a day after acquiring Thomas's past sparring partner from the Vancouver Canucks, sent Thomas to the Dallas Stars. They'd looked at Thomas when he was looking to return to the NHL after a yearlong sabbatical. He gives them a legitimate backup option for starter Kari Lehtonen.

Lehtonen has a .916 save percentage in 51 appearances already. He needs a day off from time to time.

Still, this is about the end of the Thomas-Luongo pair. And Luongo knows it — a day after joking about it on Twitter, he did it again.

@TSNBobMcKenzie NOOOO!!!!!!!!

— Strombone (@strombone1) March 5, 2014

Luongo's new partner is Dan Ellis, who comes back from the Stars in the trade. He's pretty funny too — the fake version, at least — so fingers crossed.

Contributors: Sean Gentille, Ben Valentine

VIDEO:   Deadline recap