Lightning make roster move after Hedman injury
It was bound to happen at some point. The Lightning’s best defensemen and leader in ice time Victor Hedman suffered a lower body injury on Thursday night against Calgary and will be out 3-6 weeks. The good news is that Hedman will not need surgery and with the Lightning off for the next 5 days, that takes off a week of recovery time. So the recovery time goes down to 2-5 weeks.
Hedmans’s injury left the Lightning bench in a state of shock as he had to be helped off the ice and could not put weight on the leg As he was helped into the locker room. As devastating as this injury is for the Lightning, Hedman will be back before the playoffs start and will have some games to get himself back into playing shape.
Hedman was averaging over 25 minutes a game and was a key component of the PP and PK. The last time Hedman suffered a significant injury was during the Lightning’s Stanley Cup run of 2015-16 when he missed 16 games with a broken finger. The Lightning went 12-4 in his absence.
So who will step up and take Hedman’s minutes? Well no one can replace Hedman. You do not replace an an all-star, a locker room leader, and Norris Trophy finalist. Mikhail Sergachev is already playing just over 20 minutes a game and will see his time increase with the Hedman injury. This injury will also give the likes of Slater Koekkoek, Jake Dotchin, and Brayden Coburn more time. Sergachev will see his tIme increased especially on the PK.
Dan Giradi who is sixth in the league in blocked shots with 96, will also see additional minutes. Giradi who is on the backside of his career is averaging just under 20 minutes a game and will probably see his minutes increase about five minutes a game.
in other news, the Lightning made a roster move today putting JT Brown on waivers. Brown who had been a healthy scratch in twenty games this season had just one goal and three assists. If Brown clears waivers by noon tomorrow, he will be sent to Syracuse.
Yzerman, making the announcement said that there were too many players excelling at Syracuse that deserved to get an opportunity to see what they can do at the NHL level with the Lightning. Yzerman mentioned Adam Erne, Alexander Volkov, Matt Peca, and Carter Verhaeghe as some guys he wants to take a look at.
In the past, Jonathan Drouin, Cory Conacher, and Brayden Point have come up from Syracuse and provided a spark down the stretch for the Lightning to help secure a playoff spot.
Again, this is just another example of Yzerman having a good feel for the Lightning and what they need at the present time. The Lightning have been looking for another winger to add to the roster. I think this decsion by Yzerman could mean that there is not a lot out there that will be available at the trade deadline. The Syracuse shuffle has worked very well before, lets give some of the kids a chance and see what happens.
The Lightning will be back in action Thursday night against the best team in the west, the Vegas Golden Knights.
