LAS VEGAS -- The Tampa Bay Lightning will have a new look this season, but Victor Hedman said the goal is still the same: win the Stanley Cup.
“Absolutely,” the defenseman said Monday at the NHL North American Player Media Tour. “That's everyone's goal, obviously, going into the season, but it feels like we have the team to be a contender.”
Hedman and the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021, but that was with Steven Stamkos as their captain. He is no longer with Tampa Bay, having signed a four-year, $32 million contract ($8 million average annual value) with the Nashville Predators on July 1 after playing the first 16 seasons of his NHL career for the Lightning, 15 of them as Hedman’s teammate.
“It was tough, obviously,” Hedman said of Stamkos leaving the Lightning. “We kept in contact a lot, but when it was July 1st and I realized he wasn’t coming back, it was shocking, obviously.”
Hedman, who had the second-most assists (63) and points (76) of his NHL career last season, said the Lightning will miss more than Stamkos’ contributions on the ice.
“He is the best ever to wear the Lightning sweater,” the 33-year-old said. “He had 500 goals, 1,000 points, 1,000 games, two Cups, multiple awards and being the captain for more than a decade.
“But the person himself is going to be missed in the locker room and on the road, everywhere. It’s going to be a lot different going into the locker room and not seeing him.”
Still, the Lightning are ready to move on and cement a new legacy of winning, but Hedman said it won’t be easy, especially in the Atlantic Division.
“You look at our division, it’s super tough,” Hedman said. “It feels like the past few years it's been us, Florida, Boston and Toronto. Now you have to throw in Ottawa, Montreal, Buffalo. Montreal is getting better. And Detroit. I just mentioned all the teams in our division, they are all getting better.
“So, for us, we have to hit the ground running, that’s the bottom line.”
One of those division rivals is the Florida Panthers, who won the Stanley Cup last season, eliminating the Lightning in the Eastern Conference First Round along the way.
“They're a phenomenal team and like I said, we've had that brand and, you know, obviously now with them being the reigning Cup champs, they probably have that brand,” Hedman said. “Their core guys are pretty much still intact and they are led by a great captain in (Aleksander) Barkov. It’s going to be fun to come up against those guys again.”
Despite losing Stamkos, the Lightning did add some firepower by signing forwards Jake Guentzel to a seven-year, $63 million contract ($9 million AAV) and Cam Atkinson to a one-year, $900,000 contract. They also reacquired defenseman Ryan McDonagh in a trade with the Predators. McDonagh was a member of Tampa Bay’s back-to-back Cup-winning teams.
“We have to get the new guys into the things we do, get acclimated as quickly as they can, and just try to have a good camp and take it from there," Hedman said.
