Lightning’s Victor Hedman to have elbow surgery, expected to return before Olympics

The Tampa Bay Lightning have announced that defenseman Victor Hedman will be undergoing a procedure on his elbow on Monday, and will be out until early February to recover and rehab the injury.

The procedure is to take care of an elbow injury that Hedman originally sustained during a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals on November 8th. He missed 12 games with the injury before returning last Saturday, playing three games before departing early in the Lightning’s 6-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. Lightning head coach Jon Cooper later confirmed that the injury that caused him to leave the Canadiens game was the same one that Hedman had missed the previous 12 games for.

The Lightning also mentioned in the statement that Hedman is expected to return in early February, specifying that he should be able to play for the Swedish Olympic team. Based on that information, Hedman’s desire to play in the Olympics was probably a motivating factor for getting the procedure done now. Hedman was not selected to Sweden’s Olympic squad the last time NHL players were allowed to play in the tournament in 2014, and at 34-years-old, the tournament in 2026 will be his best chance to do so.

Hedman has been good when he’s been healthy, as even though he has no goals on the year, he has 12 assists in the 18 games he’s played.

With Hedman out of the lineup, Declan Carlile was recalled from the Syracuse Crunch to replace him ahead of Thursday’s 8-4 win over the New Jersey Devils. Carlile has one goal and one assist for two points in 10 games with the Lightning, as well as two goals and nine assists for 11 points in 16 games in the AHL with the Crunch.

The Lightning currently sit in first in the Atlantic Division with an 18-11-2 record. They will continue life without Hedman when they visit the New York Islanders on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EST.