{"id":649334,"date":"2026-05-05T12:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/649334\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T12:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:58:08","slug":"hedman-stepped-away-from-lightning-for-mental-health-reasons-tsn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/649334\/","title":{"rendered":"Hedman stepped away from Lightning for mental health reasons \u2013 TSN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> captain Victor Hedman<\/a> says he stepped away from the team this year for mental health reasons. <\/p>\n

Hedman released a statement through Tampa\u2019s social media Tuesday morning, saying stepping away \u201cwas not an easy decision, but it was the right one.\u201d The veteran blueliner also said he was \u201cin a much better place today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hedman last played on March 19 and missed the entirety of the Lightning\u2019s first-round series against the Canadiens, which Montreal won in six games. Hedman skated with the team\u2019s scratches ahead of Game 7 on Sunday but head coach Jon Cooper confirmed before puck drop that he would not yet be returning to game action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is Hedman\u2019s full statement:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent most of my life in this game, and nearly all of my career with this organization. Wearing this jersey – and serving as captain – is the greatest responsibility of my professional life.<\/p>\n

That responsibility doesn\u2019t only apply on the ice. Over the past couple of months, I made the decision to step away and focus on my mental health. It was not an easy decision, but it was the right one.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always believed that being a leader means doing what\u2019s best for the team. In this case, it also meant doing what was necessary to take care of myself, so I can be the best player, teammate, husband and father I expect to be.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been fortunate to have strong support from my family, my teammates and the organization, my therapist and I\u2019m in a much better place today.<\/p>\n

This is something that exists in our game more than people see. If this moment helps make it\u00a0easier\u00a0for others to take care of themselves when they need to, that matters.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud of this team, and I look forward to what\u2019s ahead.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old\u00a0blueliner\u00a0had one goal and 16 assists in 33 games in 2025-26. He has spent his entire 17-year NHL career with the Bolts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman says he stepped away from the team this year for mental health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[712,49,48,448,82,95645,216649],"class_list":["post-649334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-lightning-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-14","tag-victor-hedman-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8475167"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}