TAMPA, Fla. — As the Lightning reach the midway point of the regular season, defenseman Victor Hedman is in a familiar place: the middle of the Norris Trophy conversation.
Hedman has been a finalist for the Norris, given to the league’s top defenseman, for five straight years. He will probably make it six in a few months.
“When you’re filling out those ballots, he should be on it every year,” coach Jon Cooper said following the Lightning’s 6-4 win over the Kings Tuesday in Los Angeles.
And while there’s still half of the season to go, games like Tuesday’s are a reminder of why Hedman remains one of the game’s elite at the position.
With the Lightning forced to play with just four defensemen because of injuries to their top three right-side defensemen and salary-cap confines that prevented them from calling up a replacement, Hedman embraced the challenge. After the game, he talked about how it was difficult to take his pregame nap because he was so excited to play.
“It was a challenge in itself,” Hedman said. “And in an 82-game season, you need those challenges. It was something different, something exciting.”
Hedman had to elevate his game in a different way. When more is needed from him, he’s quick to provide offense. But Tuesday, he had to play with extra discipline.
It was important that the Lightning kept getting the puck deep, to resist the temptation of making the extra pass, so that the defense could make line changes. And they couldn’t take penalties, so they had to be careful with their physicality, positioning and stickwork.
But then, it was Hedman who pressured Kings captain Anze Kopitar around the back of the Lightning net 13 minutes into the game. And when Kopitar made a sloppy pass at the blue line, Hedman jumped on the loose puck in the neutral zone and created a breakaway for himself, burying a wrister for the Lightning’s first goal.
“We were playing pretty well there, limiting the shots against, but we didn’t generate a lot,” defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “Just probably playing a little bit high percentage and conservative, and obviously Heddy just reads the game so well, finds a bouncing puck and just took off and finished it off on the breakaway. So definitely just gave us some confidence there early in the game. He just led the way, for sure.”
After the Lightning fell behind 2-1 in the second, Hedman kept a play alive on the power play by using his stick to calmly knock Nikita Kucherov’s wild pass out of the air, then fed Kucherov for a one-timer. With the game tied at 3 midway through the third, Kucherov returned the favor with a backhand pass to Hedman skating to the slot, setting up the defenseman’s second goal of the game.
After the game, Hedman — who logged 32:18, a career-high for a regulation game — was asked whether he’s played a better game than Tuesday’s three-point night. Showing he’s never quite satisfied, Hedman smiled and said, “Hopefully I have.”
“What else can you ask for?” Lightning forward Corey Perry said. “That’s a leader. That’s a guy that understands he’s got to put a team on his back and go out and do it. And he did that the other night. I mean, that’s why he is up for Norris every single year. He just keeps coming, and it’s fun to watch. He’s a horse.”
The game has some remarkable two-way defensemen, like the Predators’ Roman Josi and youngsters Cale Makar of the Avalanche and last year’s Norris winner Adam Fox of the Rangers. Still, Hedman entered Thursday night’s games leading all defensemen with 43 points. He was second in assists (34) and minutes played (1,032), as well as in point shares (6.8), a metric that combines offensive and defensive play.
But it’s Hedman’s ability to step up when needed most that makes him stand out. He had a similar game last month. The Lightning were coming off a frustrating loss in St. Louis, a game in which they blew a three-goal lead. Two days later, facing St. Louis at home, Hedman fumed in the penalty box as the Blues tied the game following a penalty he didn’t believe he committed. He exited the box and scored two goals in the final minutes to lead the Lightning to a 4-2 win.
“There’s guys that rise to the challenge, and there’s guys that don’t,” Cooper said. “And I’ve been here a long time now with him, and whether it was a game like (Tuesday) or whether it was the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, whatever you want to say, he just finds a way to rise to the occasion.”
