Lightning sign franchise cornerstone to four-year extension

The Lightning have signed franchise defenseman Victor Hedman to a four-year contract extension worth $8M per season, the team announced. The deal kicks in beginning in 2025-26 and will keep him in Tampa through 2028-29.

Hedman and the Lightning were headed toward unrestricted free agency next summer, a fate both surely wanted to avoid after watching longtime captain Steven Stamkos depart for the Predators. 

Notably, Hedman’s extension is the exact same length and total value as Stamkos’ deal in Nashville. The new deal is a slight raise on his $7.875M cap hit, which remains in effect for 2024-25 as he plays the final season of the eight-year, $63M extension he signed in Tampa in 2016. Hedman, 33, will be 38 years old when his contract runs out.

Hedman, drafted second overall in 2009, remains Tampa’s undisputed top blue liner and is arguably the second-best talent in franchise history behind Stamkos. They don’t win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021 without the 6’7″ Swede, who was crowned the Conn Smythe winner the first time around. He was a Norris finalist in every season from 2016-17 to 2021-22 (winning in 2017-18), a span in which he recorded 85 goals, 289 assists, 374 points and a +117 rating while averaging 24:34 across 428 games played.

Two years ago, however, it looked like Hedman’s decline might have started early. 2022-23 was a rough campaign for him on both sides of the puck, with his 0.64 points per game checking in as his worst offensive showing in seven years and his 50.1 xGF% at even strength running surprisingly mediocre despite over 60% of his zone starts coming in the offensive end.

He had a nice rebound campaign last season, though, erupting once again for 76 points (13 goals, 63 assists) in 78 games with a +13 rating. Hedman has also stayed relatively healthy as he ages, never missing more than six games in a season for the past four years. That’s a good sign for their highest-paid blue liner, who will be relied upon heavily next season to anchor a new-look defense that’s seen Ryan McDonagh re-acquired after two years away and Mikhail Sergachev swapped for J.J. Moser in a larger deal with Utah.

It’s the second big-money move from the Lightning in the past two days. They found Stamkos’ pricier but younger replacement, acquiring top free agent left wing Jake Guentzel’s signing rights from the Hurricanes and promptly inking him to a seven-year deal worth $9M per season. Clearly, GM Julien BriseBois has no intention of letting the Bolts slip out of championship contention anytime soon, doing well to replenish their roster with younger and, in some cases, more cost-effective talent. But keeping Hedman around was always a priority, and he becomes the overwhelming favorite to succeed Stamkos as captain this season.

Hedman’s marginal increase on his current deal means the move doesn’t have much of an impact on their long-term salary cap picture. They do still have one big-ticket item to check off their list this summer. Moser remains an unsigned RFA, and they’d surely prefer to get him inked to a new deal before he can file for arbitration. It shouldn’t be too big of a hassle, as the Lightning still have $6.65M in projected cap space remaining with five open roster spots, per CapFriendly.

With Sergachev out and McDonagh and Moser in, Hedman joins Erik Černak as the only Tampa defenseman signed past 2025-26. They have considerably more long-term stability at forward, with Guentzel, Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and Brayden Point all locked up through the end of the decade.