Lightning captain Victor Hedman to undergo elbow surgery on Monday

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Dec 12, 2025

Published in Hockey

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EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — A lingering injury to Victor Hedman’s elbow that’s ailed the Lightning captain for most of the past six weeks will sideline him until the beginning of February.

The veteran defenseman, who did not play Thursday at New Jersey after leaving Tuesday’s game in Montreal early, will have surgery on Monday. He has missed 13 of the past 16 games.

Head coach Jon Cooper said Hedman is expected to return on Feb. 1, which would ensure that he will be back in time to captain Sweden’s team in the Winter Olympics later that month in Italy.

“He’s our captain,” Cooper said Friday. “So the one thing that comes out of this is a little bit of certainty that we’re gonna get him back and he’s gonna have the opportunity to play for his country in the Olympics. To me, that’s a big thing.”

As the Lightning practiced Friday at Northwell Health Ice Center ahead of Saturday’s game against the Islanders, Hedman watched from the front row dressed in street clothes.

He missed 12 games after initially suffering the injury Nov. 8 against Washington. When he returned, the Lightning gradually worked him back. He averaged just 17:13 in his first two games, well below his season average of 23:35.

It was clear he first was trying to play through the injury, as he has with so many physical issues in the past.

Tuesday in Montreal, Hedman left in the middle of a first-period shift and did not return. He skated just 6:14 over eight shifts in the game.

Before Thursday’s game against the Devils, Cooper said Hedman would seek a second opinion on the injury. He was still optimistic that the defenseman could return relatively soon. Ultimately, the decision to have surgery instead of trying to continue rehabbing had to be made now in order to ensure that Hedman would be back in time for the Olympics.

Though 18 games this season, he has no goals and 12 assists and an even plus-minus rating.

Over the years, Hedman has been remarkable at keeping himself on the ice, averaging in the mid-20-minutes in ice time and playing on both special-teams units. He missed just 15 regular-season games over the previous five seasons combined.

The Lightning entered Friday’s off day in first place in the Atlantic Division (leading the Bruins on points percentage) despite a litany of long-term injuries, including a left-leg injury to lockdown defenseman Ryan McDonagh that has sidelined him for 16 straight games and a hand injury that is expected to keep top right-shot defenseman Erik Cernak out for the next several weeks.

Veterans J.J. Moser and Darren Raddysh have grabbed bigger roles, and a crop of rookies that includes Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Max Crozier, Declan Carlie and Steven Santini have helped stabilize the defense corps.

“It’s comforting that the guys have proven that we’ve been able to still hang in there,” Cooper said. “But, you know, it’s not ideal to lose your captain, but he’ll be around with us during rehab. But it’s better to get this out of the way now for the Tampa Bay Lightning and the country of Sweden.”

Hedman, who will turn 35 on Thursday, has represented Sweden in numerous international events, including the world junior and world championship tournaments, and last season’s 4 Nations Faceoff. This would be his first time playing for his home country at the Olympics. He was one of six players named to Sweden’s preliminary roster.

Hedman is in the first season of a four-year contract with an annual average value of $8 million that he signed two summers ago. Since he will miss extended time, he can be placed on long-term injured reserve, which will open another roster spot for the Lightning.

Other injury news

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy will miss his sixth straight game Saturday but is trending toward potentially returning for the following game Monday at home against the Panthers.

Vasilevskiy returned to practice Friday, one of three goaltenders on the ice, along with Jonas Johansson and Brandon Halverson.

“(Friday) was a really good sign,” Cooper said.

Rookie center Dominic James was a full participant in practice. If he’s not available Saturday, Cooper is confident of a return on Monday.

McDonagh took the ice in the middle of Friday’s practice and mainly did some skating drills on his own. Cooper upgraded him to day to day.

Forward Brandon Hagel did not practice Friday, with the team calling it a body maintenance day. Gage Goncalves skated in his place on line rushes with Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov, and James filled his role on the second power-play unit.