Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper can’t swing a broken hockey stick without hitting a player having a breakout season these days. But while some of what’s going on in Tampa has raised eyebrows, the play of Victor Hedman should be inducing more of a knowing nod.
Goalie Ben Bishop and rookies Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson have all, to varying degrees, come from nowhere to be front-line contributors for a likeable Lightning team that, despite the absence of a certain freakishly talented goal-scorer, has managed enough points to stay ahead of the giant sludge pile in the Eastern Conference. Bishop—at 85th overall—was the highest draft choice among those three players, and has twice been traded since the St. Louis Blues selected him in 2005. Hedman, however, was tabbed for greatness from the moment Tampa called his name second overall in 2009, right after the New York Islanders took John Tavares.
Not yet two months removed from his 23rd birthday, Hedman is the six-foot-six embodiment of the old adage that defencemen typically take just a bit more time to learn their way around the league. Last year’s lockout-shortened schedule was the big Swede’s fourth NHL campaign and he started to make noticeable offensive strides, posting the equivalent of a 37-point season. This year, things are going to a whole new level. Hedman, who’s missed seven games with a leg injury, has 11 goals and 36 points in 49 contests, including nine points in his past six outings. In terms of points-per-game, the only blueliners outpacing Hedman are Erik Karlsson, Duncan Keith and Mark Giordano.
Beyond his offensive jump, Hedman is also Cooper’s most relied on player, averaging more ice time than anybody on the Lightning. That surely has a lot to do with the fact, as his advanced stats indicate, he is among the very best puck-possession players in Tampa’s lineup.
Because Bishop’s Vezina Trophy–worthy play has locked down what was a perpetual sore spot for the team at the most important position, we’d rank his emergence as the most significant development in Lightning-land this year. But the dominance of Hedman isn’t far behind, especially when you project what it means long-term for this club. With Steven Stamkos established as one of the planet’s premier goal-scorers and Jonathan Drouin, last year’s third overall pick, destined to make the eventual loss of Martin St-Louis easier to take, Tampa has some serious horses up front. Given the notoriously fickle nature of goaltending, the Bolts can’t count on Bishop being this good every season, but there’s no obvious reason to expect he’ll fall off a cliff. Now, it appears the club could have the a true No. 1 defenceman—not just the best of the blueliners on his team—on its hands, completing hockey’s holy positional trinity.
Hedman will have a chance to rest up in the next couple weeks because he was left off the Swedish Olympic team (including its reserve list), a decision that’s gone from somewhat curious to downright regrettable since the call was made. If the Swedish brain trust had the luxury of even one more month to watch Hedman, perhaps they would have gone in a different direction. Thankfully for Tampa Bay, it was under no such similar time crunch and can now relish watching Hedman continue to grow in the role he was drafted to play.