Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman has been placed on injured reserve ahead of Thursday’s matchup against the New Jersey Devils. The veteran defenseman left Tuesday’s game in Montreal after logging just 6:14 of ice time in the first period.
“It’s a little bit of a concern. We’ll get him re-evaluated here,” Jon Cooper said Tuesday. “We still have a couple games on this road trip, but it’s tough to lose the big guy. He’s such an important part of our team, so fingers crossed here.”
Under league rules, Hedman must sit out a minimum of seven days from the day following the game in which he was injured. As a result, he will miss Thursday’s game in New Jersey, Saturday’s matchup withe Islanders, and Monday’s home game against the Panthers.
Hedman was playing in just his third game back from a Nov. 8 injury that placed him on long-term injured reserve. It’s unclear whether his latest setback is related to the same injury.
In a corresponding move, the Lightning recalled defenseman Declan Carlile from the Syracuse Crunch. The 25-year-old has appeared in nine games for Tampa Bay this season, notching one goal and a plus-1 rating while averaging 12:53 of ice time.
The Lightning continue to navigate a challenging stretch of injuries. Defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Erik Cernak, along with goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, all remain on injured reserve. The team did receive a boost earlier in the week with the return of Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.