The Tampa Bay Lightning have been without standout d-man Victor Hedman for the last two games, and it doesn’t sound as though the club quite knows when to expect him back.
“I don’t know,” Bolts head coach Jon Cooper said, per the Tribune. “Too hard to speculate right now.”
Nobody’s quite sure what’s ailing Hedman right now, or the severity of his injury. He was hurt in the first period of Monday’s 7-3 loss to Philly and while he is skating, there doesn’t seem to be any indication if he’ll return prior to the All-Star break... or, if he’ll even be ready following the league’s annual mid-season gala.
Losing Hedman for any length of time is significant for Tampa Bay. Despite already missing 20 of the club’s 46 games this year, Hedman still leads all defensemen in scoring (with 20 points) and averages nearly 22 minutes a night when healthy.