{"id":524403,"date":"2026-03-26T20:24:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/524403\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T20:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:24:28","slug":"tampa-bay-lightning-announces-captain-victor-hedman-will-be-absent-indefinitely-over-mystery-personal-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/524403\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Lightning announces captain Victor Hedman will be absent indefinitely over mystery ‘personal reasons’"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman will be absent indefinitely from all NHL action due to \u2018personal reasons\u2019.<\/p>\n

The legendary Swedish defenseman is in his 17th NHL<\/a> season of his career, all spent with Tampa Bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman is taking a temporary leave of absenceCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The 2018 James Norris Memorial Trophy winner recently played in the 2026 Winter OlympicsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

He recently played at the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a> in February for Team Sweden, in which they reached the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Hedman was unfortunately forced to miss their quarter-final exit to Team USA<\/a> due to a groin injury as they were beaten in overtime. <\/p>\n

The 35-year-old hockey<\/a> icon has missed the Lightning\u2019s past three games due to illness, having suited up for the first 12 after the Olympic<\/a> break. <\/p>\n

It is unclear whether Hedman\u2019s illness ties in with his temporary leave of absence from the sport. <\/p>\n

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The Lightning\u2019s statement read, \u201cThe Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that defenseman Victor Hedman will be taking a temporary leave of absence from the team for personal reasons. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo further details will be shared, and the team asks that his privacy be respected at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was an outpouring of support for Hedman in response to the announcement by the team on social media. <\/p>\n

\u201cNothing but love and respect for our captain,\u201d one wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake all of the time you need, Heddy. Bolts Nation\u2019s got you,\u201d another commented.<\/p>\n

Lightning fan page Bolts Breakdown wrote, \u201cCaptain Hedman, We love you.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have been a great leader & we wish you well in whatever is going on. Bolts Nation is here to support you however we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-time Stanley Cup winner<\/a> in 2020 and 2021 is first in Lightning history among defensemen in games (1,164), goals (172), assists (639) and points (811).<\/p>\n

During their playoff run in 2020, Hedman was handed the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the series. <\/p>\n

He also won the 2018 James Norris Memorial Trophy as the best defenseman in the NHL that year. <\/p>\n

The likely playoff-bound Lightning currently sit second in the Atlantic Division with a 44-21-5 record. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re three points behind the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> with two games in hand and face the Seattle Kraken on Thursday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman will be absent indefinitely from all NHL action due to \u2018personal reasons\u2019.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[5,189,285,4,540,92,5168,5167,31286],"class_list":["post-524403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-hockey","tag-lightning","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-nhl","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaylightning","tag-winter-olympics-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116297353163314457","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}