Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman seeing large increase in ice time as he makes case for first Norris Trophy

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 22, 2017

BRANDON – Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman ventured out during the Christmas season and wrapped up his shopping early this year.

It’s a wonder, considering how much time the just turned 27-year-old defenseman has logged on the ice this season, Hedman has the energy to do anything but rest during his down time.

But just like his shopping prowess, Hedman is swift and efficient in his play, it’s like he never gets tired despite his increased ice time. And he’s just getting started this season.

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Hedman is the type of No. 1 defenseman teams covet. He plays all situations, matches up against top players on the opposing team, sees ample power play time and kills penalties. The former No. 2 overall pick in the 2009 draft has been a 20-minute per night player throughout his entire career. But until recently, his ice time was monitored. Rarely did he play more than 24-25 minutes a game for the first seven years of his career.

In those first seven years of his career, Hedman never averaged more than 23:06 per game, which is not an insignificant amount of time on the ice. But the top defensemen in the league were playing 27, 28 or even 29 minutes a game on average. His average ice time during that span was 22:11 per game, ranked 62nd among all players from 2009-10 through 2014-15.

But last year was a bit of a breakthrough in many aspects for Hedman, who was a Norris Trophy finalist last season for the first time. Hedman career highs with 16 goals, 56 assists and 72 points and led all defensemen in assists. His ice time ticked up more than two minutes per game to a career-high 24 minutes, 30 seconds per game, which still was only good enough for 15th most in the league.

This season, however, he’s taking another leap forward with 25:47 per game, which pushes him in to the top 10, good enough for seventh most behind Ryan Suter, Drew Doughty, Rasmus Ristolainen, Erik Karlsson, John Carlson and Kris Letang.

Hedman is playing nearly five more minutes per game than any other player on the Lightning and two more shifts than the next closest player, Anton Stralman who plays 20:51 per game and 25 shifts. Hedman’s total time on ice is already 167 more total minutes on the season. He has been below 22 minutes just twice this season, with one of those coming when he played just 19 minutes during a blowout victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins while logging more than 26 minutes 17 times with a season high of 29:47 against Colorado on Dec. 7.

When you have the type of impact on the game Hedman is having, the more ice time the better.

”I like it,’’ Hedman said. “And with that comes responsibility and I want that. My game feels great, my body feels awesome so the extra work load is nothing that has been bothering me. It’s all about me taking care of my body, getting the rest when I have the opportunity, getting the rest for every game. It’s up to me to keep earning the ice time and I want to keep doing that throughout the rest of the season. I take it game-by-game, but so far it’s been all good.’’

That’s an understatement.

Hedman has been Norris worthy once again. Even former NHLer Matthew Barnaby, who was watching the game on Thursday against Ottawa as Hedman was the dominant player on the ice, looked in to the future.

How many Norris trophies will Hedman win??? I’ll go with 3

— Matthew Barnaby (@MattBarnaby3636) December 22, 2017

Hedman might well be on his way to winning the first one this season, particularly with the way his game has gone to another level the past few games. He carries a six-game scoring streak in to Saturday’s game against Minnesota, picking up two goals and six assists in that span.

But it’s not just the point, it’s the way he’s playing, taking command of the game at both ends of the ice. He’s been a monster defensively, as well, swooping in to disrupt rushes almost with ease as he gobbles up large chunks of real estate on the ice to surprise opposing puck carriers.

Carrying the puck up the ice, Hedman has been a force on the offensive side of the ice as well. He’s more active jumping in to the play and creating offensive as he has finally overtaken rookie Mikhail Sergachev for the team lead in points by a defenseman.

”Victor is definitely in beast mode right now and it’s been really fun to watch,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “He can command and take over a game and right now he’s feeling it.’’

It’s not as if he wasn’t playing well early in the season, it’s just the points are starting to show up on a more consistent basis.

”Nobody keeps it up all year and Victor has been great for us all year, now he’s just, point wise the production is coming,’’ Cooper said. “I just don’t think you judge guys just on how many points they get. It was just a matter of time before this was going to happen. It’s hard to get points in this league, especially on the back end, but the good one’s always find a way and Heddy is being rewarded for his good play of late.’’

At his current pace, Hedman will reach the 10-goal mark for the fifth consecutive season as well as being on pace for 51 assists and 61 points, both of which be the second highest single-season mark.

”When Heddy’s moving, when he’s skating like he does, he’s a tough guy to hit,’’ Tyler Johnson said. “He’s a big guy. He has a long stride that really gets up the ice really well and obviously his offensive gifts of being able to make plays and everything. I’m really glad he’s on our team because he’s be a tough guy to stop.’’

Stralman has taking plenty of shifts alongside Hedman since joining the Lightning at the start of the 2014-15 season. But now that Stralman is paired primarily with Sergachev, he gets to watch his fellow Swedish defenseman go to work.

”You can see from that Colorado game (Dec. 16), he found something there and is riding that wave for sure,’’ Stralman said. “You can see it on the ice, he likes to be out there and makes some really good plays, collecting points and being really effective at both ends of the ice.’’

Hedman just hopes to keep gobbling up ice time like he does real estate and collecting points, helping the Lightning continue to sit atop the league standings. If he keeps doing that, there’s a good chance he’ll end up in Vegas in June to accept the first of what could be multiple Norris trophies.

He’ll continue to get plenty of ice time to make his case.

”It’s all up to me, the way I perform on the ice is when they are going to put me out there and I have to keep that going,’’ Hedman said. “You can’t fall in to any sort of false sense of comfort and believe that’s going to be the case every night, you have to earn it and I have to play at the top of my level to keep earning that ice time.

“That’s the pressure I put on myself every game. And that’s what is so much fun about this league, it’s about having a different challenge every night, different teams and high-skilled, elite players that you have to go head-to-head against and you have to be mentally prepared for that. That’s what I like about this game, you have to challenge yourself every night and as a team, you have a different challenge every night. You have to embrace it.’’

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