Player Discussion: Victor Hedman

[Sky04]

I'm actually not too picky about his ice time on a regular basis, he plays on average 22:40 mins a game and leads all Lightning skaters in that category. That is a fair chunk of ice time. My main concern is not increasing his ice time in close games or important games like in the playoffs, it's just beyond stupid to keep chancing a Carle-Sustr pairing out there when a Stanley Cup in on the line.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Why is Hedman's icetime so low? On most other teams he'd play at least 25-26 min per game?

You're asking questions that defy Cooper-logic. Why keep putting Stamkos out with Alex Killorn and Val Filppula when they don't work together? Why limit Drouin's icetime so much when guys like the aforementioned screw up at least as bad as he does (and more often)? Why ever let Matt Carle play a game in a Stanley Cup final?

Don't get me wrong, a SCF was fun to watch and we wouldn't get there without Cooper, but if you want to be a fan of this club you have to accept some weird things this year.

 

[The Macho King]

Don't get me wrong, a SCF was fun to watch and we wouldn't get there without Tyler Johnson, but if you want to be a fan of this club you have to accept some weird things this year.

Sorry, fixed your post.

 

[HowYouDrouin]

Sorry, fixed your post.

agreed the post was perfect except for that!... hedman and palat too, really iirc they were the 3 that blew my mind in the space of 5 minutes during the comeback against detroit.

honestly even when we were winning before and during the playoffs, i never felt too confident about this team. definitely lack confidence in cooper.

whats weird is the biggest dissapointment this season has been Johnson (short offseason + injuries obviously). i think i should have seen it coming and tempered my expectations, but i really really really thought after all he'd done that this season was going to be the one where he cemented it all and became the face of the franchise. ****, i thought that of most of the team.

 

[Tampbear]

agreed the post was perfect except for that!... hedman and palat too, really iirc they were the 3 that blew my mind in the space of 5 minutes during the comeback against detroit.

honestly even when we were winning before and during the playoffs, i never felt too confident about this team. definitely lack confidence in cooper.

whats weird is the biggest dissapointment this season has been Johnson (short offseason + injuries obviously). i think i should have seen it coming and tempered my expectations, but i really really really thought after all he'd done that this season was going to be the one where he cemented it all and became the face of the franchise. ****, i thought that of most of the team.

Johnson just wants to make sure his next contract doesn't cripple us financially.

 

[chasespace]

Sustr turned into a talent vampire and drained him of some

 

[The Macho King]

Victor Hedman's Season and Stats

Victor Hedman is currently sitting second in the league in points by a defenseman (2 off of Burns, 1 ahead of Karlsson), and on pace for ~70 points.

That being said, he's having his worst possession stat season since the Boucher era (although decent rel stats still), and has been a little up and down on his defense and turnovers this season.

So where do we place him? This is by far his best offensive season (if he didn't play another game it would be his fourth highest scoring season of his career and he's a few points from his third highest), and he's getting some buzz as a Norris nominee (or is likely to).

How do we feel about his season to date?

 

[Steazy Doo]

He's had two game-costing turnovers that people defer to in their minds when someone says he's been bad on the defensive side of things (Columbus and Florida games I believe). Also something to consider on those plays was the turnovers were more based on whiffs then bad reads, which are more worrisome for obvious reasons.

I think it's much overblown, he'll be a Norris finalist for sure and rightfully so. I'm not one who delves into advanced stats much, though.

 

[Master P]

I think he's been great.


If only he could hit the net more. Oh the possibilities.

 

[The Macho King]

Let me put a disclaimer in - I think he's been great, but has he been "great for Hedman" great or just "great compared to the rest of the league/team" great.

One of the biggest changes I see from the past couple of years is his independence out there. I think he's relying less on his partner and more of being a force in his own right.

 

[xteesy]

Let me put a disclaimer in - I think he's been great, but has he been "great for Hedman" great or just "great compared to the rest of the league/team" great.

One of the biggest changes I see from the past couple of years is his independence out there. I think he's relying less on his partner and more of being a force in his own right.

The latter.

Hedman is learning to adjust to BIG minutes. He's getting the same level of ice time that Chicago throws Keith during the playoffs, except he's now getting it the whole season.

I'm not worried about a whiff or anything like that whatsoever, mainly because that just indicates he might be a bit tired by the end of the game and is learning to adjust to that pace.

 

[Sky04]

I think he's had a ton of subpar defensive games this season, imo his most dominant season was 2015.

Norris finalist at this rate but I both Burns and Karlsson have been better players this year.

 

[Hoek]

It's going to be sad when this season gets Hedman a ton more votes than a season where he played much better defensively in. Stupid voters only watching points.

 

[The Macho King]

Tied for the lead in points now with Burns.

...

And we're still out of a playoff spot.

 

[MattM92]

Tied for the lead in points now with Burns.

...

And we're still out of a playoff spot.

It's amazing how he looks so pedestrian in the defensive zone this year but he is just sneezing points. Every game he's getting an assist or two.

 

[These Are The Days]

He's really been up and down. I love the points but I feel like he's played better in other seasons. Last night for example was very poor and I'd rather Hedman go 5 games without a point to have another night like that. But I'm not gonna bag on the big guy when his defensive partner in Stralman is fast turning into Swedish Nesterov overnight with some of the nights HE has been having. But back on subject I'm pleasantly surprised that he's managed to string together so much point production. I always knew the big guy had it in him but never thought I would actually see it happen considering that a guy like Erik Karlsson can drop a 4 point night without even trying.

I've always felt Hedman was the best kept secret in the NHL and this only goes to prove it.

 

[The Macho King]

He's leading defensemen in PP points, which is probably the biggest difference (he's on the top PP and the top PP actually functions). ES points is probably about normal - 18 points in 38 games or so.

Yeah, he's not doing great in the Dzone, but I think there are a couple of reasons for that and don't think he should shoulder too much blame. First - our forwards are not supporting like they used to, and second our goaltending has been pretty bad this season.

 

[Sky04]

He's leading defensemen in PP points, which is probably the biggest difference (he's on the top PP and the top PP actually functions). ES points is probably about normal - 18 points in 38 games or so.

Yeah, he's not doing great in the Dzone, but I think there are a couple of reasons for that and don't think he should shoulder too much blame. First - our forwards are not supporting like they used to, and second our goaltending has been pretty bad this season.

Agreed, he's not doing the best in the d-zone but he's the last of our worries, if he were on top of his game in that area I think we'd all be pushing his name in Norris talks.

I actually think Karlsson has been a better two-way player this year, something I thought I'd never say.

Not sure if it's an improvement but he's finally learned how to pass across the ice tape to tape in the offensive zone, huge difference when racking up PP points. or maybe he's just been getting all those LH-forwards (Drouin and Kucherov) instead of Stamkos regularly in the left circle which makes it easier to pass to.

 

[The Macho King]

Agreed, he's not doing the best in the d-zone but he's the last of our worries, if he were on top of his game in that area I think we'd all be pushing his name in Norris talks.

I actually think Karlsson has been a better two-way player this year, something I thought I'd never say.

Not sure if it's an improvement but he's finally learned how to pass across the ice tape to tape in the offensive zone, huge difference when racking up PP points. or maybe he's just been getting all those LH-forwards (Drouin and Kucherov) instead of Stamkos regularly in the left circle which makes it easier to pass to.

Yeah it's a little weird when Burns and Karlsson are being hyped by their teams fans as Norris noms, and we are pretty quiet on the issue. This is the year he's most likely to get nominated out of the past three, and its probably his least deserving year of the three.

 

[The Gongshow]

He's pulling the Karlson, putting up points but being lousy in his own zone. I still think he's better defensively then Erik tho

 

[Sky04]

He's pulling the Karlson, putting up points but being lousy in his own zone. I still think he's better defensively then Erik tho

Not this year.

 

[RegularSznAllStars]

1 assist behind McDavid for the league lead.

 

[LightningStrikes]

His offensive numbers are pretty impressive considering that Stamkos, Kucherov and many others of our offensive corps were out so long.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

Joining the chorus of being non-plussed by his defensive zone play. Hedman's point totals are something of a byproduct of a much-improved power play, and Hedman deserves some credit for that himself perhaps, but I think that's just as much schematic as anything.

Poor timing with this thread given that last night had to be one of his worst games of the season.

 

[The Macho King]

Bumping this. 51 points on the season in 58 games (which is fantastic).

10 goals and 41 assists.

He has as many goals as all other defenseman the Bolts have dressed combined.

Hedman: 10g, 41a, 51 points
Rest of D: 10g, 50a, 60 points

Our backend has sucked this season.