{"id":260920,"date":"2026-05-06T18:10:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/260920\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T18:10:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:10:47","slug":"victor-hedman-stepped-away-from-tampa-bay-lightning-for-mental-health-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/260920\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Hedman stepped away from Tampa Bay Lightning for mental health reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> captain Victor Hedman<\/a> revealed Tuesday that his absence in the final weeks of the season was caused by a need to address his mental health.<\/p>\n

Hedman, in a statement released by the Lightning, did not provide specifics about what he has been dealing with. He didn\u2019t play in Tampa Bay\u2019s final 22 games of the season, including the seven playoff matchups in a first-round loss to the Montreal Canadiens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hedman had been around the team in recent weeks, even taking part in some skates. But his last game was in mid-March.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past couple of months, I made the decision to step away and focus on my mental health,\u201d Hedman said. \u201cIt was not an easy decision, but it was the right one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old Swedish defenseman \u2014 the No. 2 pick in the 2009 draft \u2014 has been with the Lightning for all 17 of his NHL seasons, helping the franchise win back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2020 and 2021. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in the 2020 pandemic \u201cbubble.\u201d<\/p>\n

He played in only 33 games this season, by far the fewest of his career. Some of that was because of the absence, and some of that was because of injuries that limited him to only three games between Nov. 8 and Feb. 1. He played for Sweden at the Milan Cortina Olympics.<\/p>\n

Hedman thanked his teammates, the Lightning organization, his family and his therapist for their support and said he\u2019s \u201cin a much better place today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that exists in our game more than people see,\u201d Hedman said. \u201cIf this moment helps make it easier for others to take care of themselves when they need to, that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman revealed Tuesday that his absence in the final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136,35326,45303],"class_list":["post-260920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","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\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}