Less than 24 hours after their longtime captain signed with another team in free agency, the Tampa Bay Lightning secured their probable successor as the team announced Tuesday it came to terms on a four-year contract extension with defenseman Victor Hedman.
The deal carries an average annual value of $8 million and begins during the 2025-26 season. It will keep Hedman with the Lightning through the 2028-29 season when he'll be 38.
Hedman was eligible for an extension on Monday as he was slated to enter the final year of an eight-year deal he signed in 2016. Tampa made its stance on Hedman clear and didn’t foresee any issues in figuring out a contract that worked for both sides. General manager Julien Brisebois spoke confidently last week about locking in his star defenseman and backed up his comments by signing Hedman to this extension.
A four-time All-Star, Hedman is coming off a 76-point campaign last season, his 15th in the NHL. Drafted by the Lightning with the second overall pick in 2009, Hedman debuted at 19 and received his first James Norris Trophy votes by his fifth season.
Hedman has been among the elite blueliners in the league for the past decade, finishing top seven in Norris Trophy voting in eight of the last nine seasons. He won the honor as the NHL's top defenseman in 2018, following that with four consecutive years of being named a finalist.
Hedman helped lead the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup triumphs in 2020 and 2021. He earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs in 2020.
Victor Hedman has 728 points in 1,052 regular season games in his NHL career, adding 76 points in 78 playoff games. The 33-year-old will have 20 NHL seasons under his belt if he plays through the entirety of his extension.
Lightning make slew of moves on day one of free agency
As NHL free agency began on Monday, plenty of teams were active in getting deals done. The Lightning were no exception and got started over the weekend by trading for the rights of highly-coveted forward Jake Guentzel last Sunday.
Tampa pounced at the opportunity to bring in a big-ticket free agent and secured Guentzel on a seven-year contract, the Lightning announced Monday. The 29-year-old registered 77 points in 67 games last season. He's twice scored 40 goals in a season and averaged 35 per season over the previous three.
Elsewhere, the Lightning signed veteran forward Zemgus Girgensons to a three-year contract. A 10-year NHL player, Girgensons spent the entirety of his career to this point with the Buffalo Sabres. The scrappy center has never recorded more than 30 points in a season but averaged 10 goals over his last four.
Despite bringing in an All-Star goalscorer in Guentzel and extending Hedman, maybe the biggest storyline involving the Lightning right now is their decision to let captain Steven Stamkos walk in free agency after 16 seasons with the franchise.
The two sides could not agree on a new contract before Stamkos hit the open market Monday. Tampa's franchise leader in games played, points and goals signed with the Nashville Predators as a first-time free agent. Ironically, Stamkos' new deal and Victor Hedman's extension are worth $32 million over four years.
Lightning fans are none too pleased with how the franchise handled the Steven Stamkos situation. That will be amplified if the future Hall of Famer continues to produce following the seventh 40-goal season of his career.
Winning fixes everything though, and if Julien Brisebois' moves lead to more winning for the Lightning, perhaps the fans will cut him some slack for letting go of a franchise icon.
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