Hedman sustains lower-body injury in Lightning loss to Flames

TAMPA -- Victor Hedman sustained a lower-body injury in the Tampa Bay Lightning's
5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames
on Thursday.
The All-Star defenseman was helped to the locker room 6:13 into the second period after he banged knees with Calgary Flames forward Garnet Hathaway. Coach Jon Cooper said there won't be a timetable for how long Hedman might be out until he's examined Friday, when the Lightning start a six-day break.

"There's a lot of concern, but there's concern because it's unknown," Cooper said. "There is no point in speculating, so let's just wait until tomorrow and probably this break is coming at an extremely good time for us. We'll just have to wait and see, there's nothing we can do now."
Hedman was named to the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game on Wednesday and has 33 points (six goals, 27 assists) in 44 games this season. He was a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the NHL last season.

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, who missed 65 games last season with a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee, said that losing Hedman for any significant period of time would be difficult to overcome.
"He's arguably the best, or top three, whatever you want to call it, defenseman in the League," Stamkos said. "He's a huge part of this team, a huge part of this locker room. It's unfortunate to see him go down like that. You can't replace a guy like that, but we'll have to wait and see what happens."