Until July 1, Victor Hedman never even considered that he’d become the Lightning’s captain. He would have been content to remain as Robin to Steven Stamkos’ Batman for years to come, until the two future Hall of Famers hung up their skates.
Together, they served as the pillars of championship hockey in Tampa Bay, and fans were proud to call the duo their own because they watched them grow from teenagers to star players. The two set the building blocks for the winning culture that allowed the Lightning to win back-to-back championships.
Now, Stamkos is in Nashville and Hedman stands alone in Tampa Bay, the Lightning’s captain after more than a decade of Stamkos wearing the “C” on his jersey. Hedman no longer will have his best friend next to him on the charter plane, at team dinners or in a position to hand him the Stanley Cup.
“What we’ve gone through, it’s not going to be easy to get accommodated to that, but at the same time we’ve just got to look forward,” Hedman said this week. “Our friendship is not going to change. We’re not going to be around each other for nine months out of the year, but we still have each other and talk a lot on the phone.
“We’re always going to have that bond with what we did accomplish as teammates. Nothing with that is going to change. But it’s a different start, a new start for us, and for him as well. We’ve just got to do what is best for us, and that is looking forward. Not forgetting about the past but looking forward.”
What the two accomplished together speaks for itself, Hedman said.
“Our legacy together speaks for itself, and the things that we’ve accomplished, and it It means the world to us to have gone through that,” he said. “We got to the top of the mountain twice. And we probably felt like we could have done it maybe one more time. We created history here, and you know it’s going to live on forever.”
The Lightning are now Hedman’s team, and because of that they remain poised to be one of the best in the NHL. But in the defenseman’s eyes, his captaincy is as an opportunity to carry on Stamkos’ legacy.
“‘Stammer’ is going to go down as one of the best captains in the entire hockey world,” forward Brandon Hagel said. “But ‘Heddy’ learned from him, and there’s no better guy to learn from, and that’s why this whole group and coaching staff have such belief. Because he’s learned from one of the best, and also he’s taught one of the best. It goes both ways.”
Said Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois, “Victor is an all-time great NHL player. If anything, he’s underrated. …He’s a very accomplished player; he’s one of the best players of his generation and one of the best defensemen in the history of this game. You count on your fingers the level of player he is.
“But that’s not what makes him the right guy to be the captain of this team. What makes him the right person to be the captain of this team is how special a person he is. Victor is humble, he is thoughtful, he’s extremely competitive, he’s proud, he’s driven, he’s ambitious and he cares deeply about the success of his franchise, he cares about his teammates and he cares about the Tampa Bay community.”
Taking charge in big moments
To understand what Hedman has meant to the Lightning as a leader, go back to the 2020 Cup run. The world had turned upside down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the NHL season paused, no one knew whether there would even be a postseason. But many players from the time point to the early days in the bubble as when the Lightning galvanized into a championship team, with Hedman front and center.
It was a critical time for the Lightning, who had been swept out of the first round the previous season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy. Though isolated and away from their families, they saw the opportunity to create history. But they had to do it for the most part without Stamkos, who was dealing with a core muscle injury and then left to be with his wife, who suffered a miscarriage in her 21st week of pregnancy.
It was an emotional time for all, and Hedman stepped up his leadership in Stamkos’ absence. He also played the best hockey of his career, willing the Lightning to the Cup in the most unique of scenarios in empty arenas while winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
“He was kind of the backbone as far as keeping our spirits in the right form and keeping our spirits high and keeping our focus where it needed to be,” defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “Obviously, we loved and cared for ‘Stammer’ while he was out and what he was going through and wished he was there playing with us, but there’s bigger things at times than hockey. So, we relied on ‘Heddy’ to kind of keep the heartbeat of the room and the spirits up in the room and focused.
“I’m sure, if you asked half the teams going to that bubble, probably half of them didn’t want to be there, but our group was hungry and determined, and starting with Victor. We were trying to play with no regrets. If this was our last chance with this kind of caliber team, we weren’t going to let it slip. And it was his play that was just outstanding from Day 1 of the mini training camp before we went to the bubble that his determination just kind of set in that, ‘Yeah, we are all-in here; let’s go for his thing.’”
Leading by example
The following year, Hedman opened the abbreviated 56-game regular season with one of the best starts of his career. Not only was he in consideration for the Norris Trophy, which goes to the NHL’s top defenseman, BriseBois viewed him as a Hart Trophy candidate as league MVP. But it was what Hedman did down the stretch, playing through a meniscus injury to help the Lightning to a second-straight championship, that might have shown even more moxie.
Hedman’s consistency also helped young defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak grow into their roles. They learned by watching the way Hedman prepared, took care of his body and competed as hard as anybody on the ice.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a 5-on-5, Day 2 of training camp scrimmage or a real NHL game in the playoffs. He is the same mentality with everything, and it’s trying to make things happen, make an impact, play at a high level,” McDonagh said. “He expects a lot out of himself, expects a lot out of his teammates, but he does it in the right fashion.
“... No matter if they’re a prospect or a player with a big club, he treats you with the same amount of respect no matter who you are, and that breeds a culture that’s inclusive and creates a culture where everybody feels valuable and important, and you can just go out and play with confidence.”
Hedman said one of the biggest lessons he learned from Stamkos is that it takes an entire room to win. And while only experience can teach you when to push the right buttons as a leader — when to stand up and say something and when to step back and let a situation play out — Stamkos made room for others to emerge as leaders.
“It’s a group effort, and I think that’s what made us so successful in years past,” Hedman said. “It doesn’t always have to be the captain or the alternates to chime in when things are good or when things are bad.
“... So, that’s one big thing that I’ve taken away from ‘Stammer’ and the way he’s evolved as a leader throughout the years. Experience is the biggest key, and for me, I’m not going to change the way I am and who I am just because of the letter I’m wearing on my jersey.”
