Before he was even drafted first overall by the Lightning in 2008, huge images of Steven Stamkos were plastered on billboards throughout the Tampa Bay area.

Eight long, eventful, too-often painful years later, he has become the NHL’s poster boy for adversity.

Just six months after returning from a frightening spell with a blood clot, the Tampa Bay Lightning captain underwent arthroscopic surgery in Vail, Colo., to repair a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee. The Lightning officially announced later in the day he'll be out four months.

“Sure it’s frustrating,” Chris Stamkos, Steven’s dad, told Postmedia Thursday afternoon. “This is his second setback in less than a year. But whether it’s three months, four months, whatever, he’ll diligently put in the work.

“Still, it’s tough. All he wants to do is play the game he loves.”

Of course, the game he loves can also be cruel at times. As such, his has been a long and twisted NHL journey: being pretty much snubbed as a rookie by his first coach; a broken leg that cost him a shot at the Sochi Olympics; the scary battle with the blood clot; and now, of course, this.

Here’s a look at the obstacles he’s been forced to deal with in his NHL career, and how he slogged through them.

CHAPTER 1: ROCKY ROOKIE RIDE

It all started out so optimistically. From billboards to bracelets to bumper stickers, the slogan “Seen Stamkos?” sprung up everywhere. There was even a Seenstamkos.com website where merchandise could be purchased.

“It was something I never expected,” Stamkos said during a sitdown interview with yours truly back in 2010. “It was kind of funny. I could be standing under the billboard and people wouldn’t know who that was.

“I remember TSN doing a special on that. They went to St. Pete Beach. Everyone was going: ‘Stamkos? Who’s Stamkos?’ It was just a try to get some buzz for the team.”

Unfortunately for Stamkos, the Lightning franchise, led by co-owners Oren Koules, Len Barrie and GM Brian Lawton, was a soap opera. The chief villain was coach Barry Melrose, who barely played Stamkos and hardly talked to the kid before being fired after just 16 games.

“You’re pissed off at the time. You want the opportunity ... It sucked going through it but now I appreciate it even more. All that made me stronger. Maybe it was good to have some adversity.”

Unfortunately, there would be much more to come.

CHAPTER 2: FROM OLYMPIC DREAMS TO OLYMPIC SCREAMS

Nov. 11, 2013. TD Garden, Boston. Steven Stamkos is lying in a heap on the ice, writhing in pain.

He admits he was playing the best hockey of his life at the time, having accrued 14 goals and seven assists in just 16 games to that point. Then, he crashed into the goal post, breaking his leg and shattering his goal of playing in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

“Knowing you could have been in Sochi getting the gold medal for your country, it sucked,” Stamkos said in a 2015 interview with Postmedia.

Of course, he tried.

There were countless days of rehab, of sweaty workouts, all aimed at being healthy enough to suit up for Canada. Alas, he came up short, causing him to go on vacation to the Cayman Islands to clear his head while the Games were going on.

“To feel as if I was ready pretty much mentally and physically and then going to the doctor and not being able to, it was pretty crushing,” Stamkos said during Team Canada’s World Cup training camp in September. "I needed time and space away from everything so I went on a little vacation.”

He did watch Canada’s 3-0 victory in the gold-medal game against the Swedes.

“I was definitely proud of those guys, (but) it was bittersweet, knowing what went on and how that would have been a special memory for me,” he admitted.

He finally had the chance to put on that Team Canada jersey in the recent World Cup. But no matter what anyone says, it’s not the same. It’s not the Olympics.

CHAPTER 3: CLOT CRISIS

Steven Stamkos was ready to lead his Lightning into the 2016 playoffs and a second consecutive Eastern Conference title.

Then the shocking results of a medical test derailed those aspirations.

It showed he had a blood clot near his right collarbone and would need surgery in early April.

Throughout the playoffs he worked out on his own, all the while harbouring aspirations of returning to action. Unfortunately, due to the dangerous and finicky nature of his ailment, a rusty Stamkos would not come back until a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final in late May.

“That’s the frustrating part, that I’m feeling close to game shape,” Stamkos said during the second round series against the New York Islanders. “When you are hurt with a broken hand or broken leg, you know physically you can’t get out there and play because your body can’t function properly.”

Once he finally received clearance, his mandate was to erase any clot-related fears from his mind.

“In order to come back and play, you have to be past that,” Stamkos said after the Penguins loss.

In signing him to an eight-year, $68 million US extension over the summer, the Lightning obviously felt confident in his health.

CHAPTER 4: AND NOW THIS ...

Given the knee surgery, a four-month absence would put Stamkos back in the lineup in late March -- just before the start of the playoffs.

Whatever the case, “He’s been through tough times before these past eight years,” Chris Stamkos said. “He knows what it takes.”

True that.

mzeisberger@postmedia.com

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