You all remember that story from earlier this summer, don’t you? Steven Stamkos ‘favorited’ a tweet about him potentially joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2016. Then, when asked about it at a media event in the center of the hockey universe, he didn’t exactly calm the speculation with his non-committal answer.

Stamkos was asked about it again today, this time by the Tampa media. His answer should give Lightning fans some peace of mind. Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune transcribed the interview, and added a nice bit of commentary:

As he did so, Stamkos hit the “favorite’’ button on the story, which allows a Twitter user to save a tweet.

The next thing Stamkos knew, Maple Leafs fans were ordering up No. 91 Toronto jerseys with his name on the back.

“You talk about having a pocket dial, that was a pocket favorite of a tweet,’’ Stamkos said Thursday at the Ice Sports Forum, where informal workouts are taking place in advance of the Sept. 18 start of training camp.

“...You press the favorite button by accident and an hour later Twitter blew up. But you live and learn and I’ll be more careful on the favorite button the next time around.

Entering his seventh season with the Lightning, Stamkos calls Tampa home.

"“It’s an unbelievable place to play and I tell people that all the time,” he said. “...I definitely want to win here and we are going to do whatever it takes to do that.’’

And.... *exhale*

Captain Stamkos wants to win in Tampa. Captain Stamkos is going to do whatever it takes to make that happen. He also spoke about how excited he is to get the season started, how he thinks the new additions will help the team take that next step, and how expectations are certainly higher this coming season.

The words we heard from Stamkos today weren’t words from a man wanting to get out of town. The words we heard from Stamkos today were the words of a captain getting ready to lead his team into a gruelling 82+ game campaign.

One of the other things that stuck out during his media availability was his talk about the leg injury that severely shortened his 2013-14 season. He recently had a screw removed from the leg, which was a planned procedure, and he says things are feeling much better now than they did at the end of last season. Check out that Erlendsson piece for his quotes.

A less-than-one-hundred-percent Stamkos put up two goals and four points in four playoff games, despite the fact that the team was in shambles on the ice. It’s hard not to be excited about what a healthy Stamkos might be able to do this year, especially if Jonathan Drouin lines up beside him.

As always, thanks for reading.

Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.

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