Hedman: Lightning captaincy 'wouldn't change the way I am'
The Tampa Bay Lightning need a new captain with Steven Stamkos no longer in the mix - and defenseman Victor Hedman is largely viewed as his natural successor.
Whether or not the towering Swede becomes the 11th player in Bolts history to don the "C", Hedman said he won't switch things up heading into his 16th season in Tampa Bay.
"I wouldn't change the way I am, the way I do things, if I have a 'C' or an 'A' on my jersey," he said, according to The Canadian Press' Joshua Clipperton. "But it is a privilege to be a captain of the National Hockey League. We'll cross that bridge when it comes to that."
Hedman has served as an alternate captain since the 2018-19 campaign. He extended his tenure with the Lightning this summer, inking a four-year pact with an $8-million cap hit starting in the 2025-26 campaign.
A mainstay on Tampa Bay's blue line, Hedman ranks second in the franchise's all-time record books in games played (1,052), third in assists (572), and fifth in points (728).
Though the 33-year-old is no stranger to the NHL, the 2024-25 season will be his first without Stamkos by his side. The longtime captain signed a four-year, $32-million pact - identical to Hedman's new extension - as an unrestricted free agent with the Nashville Predators on July 1.
"Obviously a tough offseason, losing a guy you played with for 15 years, a very close friend," Hedman said, per Sportsnet. "It's going to be a lot different, seeing him in a different uniform and not seeing him on the ice and seeing him on a day-to-day basis. But that's hockey and that's the business side of it."
The Lightning mitigated the loss of Stamkos by reeling in star winger Jake Guentzel, who joins a core of talented players in Tampa Bay which includes Hedman, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, and forwards Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.
The Bolts clinched back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021 and lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the final in 2022, but they've been a first-round exit in each of the past two seasons.
Hedman is confident his team can return to form even with Stamkos' departure.
"We've had a ton of success," he said. "You want to get back to that because once you taste it, you want to get back. I'm just super proud of the way we've been in the mix for such a long time. We still have an owner that wants to spend to the limit and put a good team on the ice every single night. We're super blessed to be playing for that organization."
He added: "We want to get back to where we belong, and that's going deep in the playoffs."