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After six-game absence, Hedman returns for Tampa Bay

victorhedmangetty

The Tampa Bay Lightning are finally starting to get healthy.

On Thursday, it was announced that defenseman Victor Hedman would return to the lineup when the Bolts host the Predators at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

Hedman, 23, has missed the last six games with a lower body injury, derailing what was shaping up to be a career campaign. The Swedish rearguard had six goals and 15 points through his first 28 games, tremendous output for a guy that had never scored more than five goals in a single season before, or posted more than 26 points.

Hedman was also averaging 21:20 TOI per game prior to getting hurt, second on the team to only Matt Carle (22:18).

As mentioned above, Tampa’s had injury issues all season long but can now see a light at the end of the tunnel. Hedman returns tonight, and Tom Pyatt -- out since October with a broken collarbone -- is expected to draw in Saturday against Carolina.

The Bolts also got good news over the weekend when Steven Stamkos returned to skate just one month after breaking his tibia.