The Tampa Bay Lightning placed Victor Hedman on injured reserve Thursday, a move that means the captain and No. 1 defenseman will miss at least the next three games.
Hedman had just gotten back in the lineup last weekend after missing nearly a month because of injury. The soon-to-be 35-year-old Swede left the game Tuesday night at the Canadiens late in the first period and did not return.
Coach Jon Cooper told reporters in Montreal that there was “a little bit of concern” about Hedman's status, implying the previous injury may have been aggravated.
“It’s tough to lose the big guy,” Cooper said at the time. “He is such an important part of our team, so fingers crossed here.”
Hedman won't be eligible to play at New Jersey on Thursday night, at the New York Islanders on Saturday or back home against defending Stanley Cup champion and cross-state rival Florida on Monday night. He averages over 21 minutes a game, second on the team, and has been a franchise cornerstone for more than a decade, including winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2020 during the first of back-to-back title runs.
Recommended for you
The Lightning recalled defenseman Declan Carlile from Syracuse of the American Hockey League to take Hedman's spot on the roster.
Hedman joins fellow two-time Cup champions Andrei Vasilevskiy, Erik Cernak and Ryan McDonagh on IR. Tampa Bay won 17 of its first 30 games this season despite the constant barrage of injuries to top players.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.