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TAMPA, Fla. -- It's been a tough season for Tampa Bay Lightning associate coach Craig Ramsay.
But you wouldn't know it talking to the former Senators assistant coach, still popular among the players whom he coached in Ottawa and known for his low-key, positive take on things.
Ramsay, 54, has had cancer intrude on his life twice this season.
He lost his mother to bladder cancer before training camp.
In early January, he underwent surgery for prostate cancer.
"I've been great," he said in advance of tonight's meeting between the Lightning and Senators.
"The surgery went well and I was back in a couple of weeks. I even played a little golf during the (Olympic) break. Actually, it wasn't a little, it was five games in six days."
Ramsay had been having regular Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) tests and they spiked in the last year.
A biopsy revealed the cancer and he had surgery the first week in January, undergoing a robotic procedure which included four punctures and one small incision to remove the prostate.
"It's really an amazing surgery. They did it Friday morning and I was walking Friday night.
"I walked two miles on the Sunday and they later told me not do so much."
Overcoming physical challenges isn't new to Ramsay.
He had his ulcerated stomach removed in 1993 and underwent surgery on his foot and knee earlier this year.
"Since I've had 11 surgeries in my life and I've always come through, this is nothing new to me," laughed Ramsay.
"Rammer is the consummate professional," Lightning GM Jay Feaster told Tampa reporters.
"That's his personality and his disposition in life. He is as steady and even keel a person as you will find. He never gets caught up in the mania or the depression. He's just a straight ship and that's a tremendous quality to have as a human being and that's what makes Rammer special."
TRADE TALK: The rumour coming out of Los Angeles is the Kings are hot after Florida Panthers G Roberto Luongo, offering up struggling G Mathieu Garon and other players in return. The Kings are in seventh place in the West, but just four points out of fourth ... The Lightning is looking for some depth on the blue line, but isn't expected to do much at the deadline because of cap limitations ... You can add the Nashville Predators to the pack of teams supposedly pursuing Panthers centre Olli Jokinen. The buzz is the Calgary Flames are leading the pack.
HEAR AND THERE: At least one losing streak came to an end Saturday in Toronto. Ottawa's Kathleen Edwards, the talented singer-songwriter who you might have seen on David Letterman or Jay Leno, broke out with a win. "The Sens always lose when I'm around," said the Ottawa fan, who showed up in Senators colours for a game in hostile territory ... The Senators had a day off yesterday, with some of the club's entourage taking in the New York Yankees-Toronto Blue Jays Grapefruit League game in nearby Dunedin ... Senators W Brian McGrattan was limping pretty badly after the flight here. He went down to block a shot by Leafs D Aki Berg and took it off the left foot ... C Jason Spezza still might need to cut down on the lengths of his shifts. He averaged 54 seconds Saturday night, the longest of any Senator.