{"id":470112,"date":"2026-05-05T21:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/470112\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T21:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:00:20","slug":"victor-hedman-says-he-left-team-to-address-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/470112\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Hedman says he left team to address mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Tampa Bay Lightning\u00a0captain Victor Hedman\u00a0revealed Tuesday that his absence in the final weeks of the season was caused by a need to address his mental health.<\/p>\n

Hedman, in a statement released by the Lightning, did not provide specifics about what he has been dealing with. He didn\u2019t play in Tampa Bay\u2019s final 22 games of the season, including the seven playoff matchups in a\u00a0first-round loss to the Montreal Canadiens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hedman, 35, had been around the team in recent weeks, even taking part in some skates. But the defenseman\u2019s last game was in mid-March.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past couple of months, I made the decision to step away and focus on my mental health,\u201d Hedman said. \u201cIt was not an easy decision, but it was the right one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always believed that being a leader means doing what\u2019s best for the team. In this case, it also meant doing what was necessary to take care of myself, so I can be the best player, teammate, husband and father I expect to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hedman missed significant time earlier in the season with an elbow injury that\u00a0required surgery in December. He returned before the Olympics and played for Sweden until tweaking something in pregame warmups before the quarterfinal against the U.S., which kept him from participating.<\/p>\n

He told reporters at Tampa Bay\u2019s exit-interview day that he leaned on best friend and former Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, as well as Ottawa goaltender Linus Ullmark, who also spent time away from the Senators\u00a0to address his mental health.<\/p>\n

Hedman \u2014 the No. 2 pick in the 2009 draft \u2014 has been with the Lightning for all 17 of his NHL seasons, helping the franchise win\u00a0back-to-back Stanley Cup titles\u00a0in 2020 and 2021. He won the\u00a0Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP\u00a0in the 2020 pandemic \u201cbubble.\u201d<\/p>\n

He played in only 33 games this season, by far the fewest of his career, because of the injury and this subsequent absence.<\/p>\n

Hedman thanked his teammates, the Lightning organization, his family and his therapist for their support and said he\u2019s \u201cin a much better place today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that exists in our game more than people see,\u201d Hedman said. \u201cIf this moment helps make it easier for others to take care of themselves when they need to, that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Tampa Bay Lightning\u00a0captain Victor Hedman\u00a0revealed Tuesday that his absence in the final weeks of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[276],"tags":[11418,7558,18,135,106287,19,17,167,502,5,21237,132,63415,206149,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-470112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-associated-press","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-mental-health","16":"tag-mentalhealth","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-orlando","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-tampa","21":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","22":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116523986316973361","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}