Lightning Defenseman Victor Hedman signs 4-year extension

Just one day after losing the face of the franchise Steven Stamkos, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that they have signed star defenseman Victor Hedman to a four-year contract extension that carries an $8 million AAV. The new contract will kick in during the 2025-26 season.

Stamkos and Hedman have always been a packaged deal. The two have been together for 15 years, and were the anchors of the Stanley Cup winning teams in 2020 and 2021. Now Hedman, who is likely the favorite to fill Stamkos' shoes as captain, will have to proceed without him.

“I know this zoom press conference is about the extension but first and foremost, obviously I want to circle back to the events yesterday and losing a guy that has been my best friend for the past 15 years.," Hedman said on Tuesday during a press conference following the announcement of his extension.

“Stammer going isn’t something that anyone expected. Me and Stammer have obviously had a lot of conversations throughout the last few weeks. What's been said is obviously going to stay between us but you know, it's a sad, sad day.”

"It’s going to be hard to imagine going into to our locker room and going into Amalie Arena and not seeing him on the ice. It’s going to be super, super weird.”

Hedman played in his 1,000th career game with the Lightning last season and will now pass Stamkos’ franchise record of 1,082 games. He's going to get the opportunity to finish his career in Tampa.

“We’re super fortunate to be in a situation where we have still a really, really good team. I’m going to do whatever I can to be as good as I can every single night to help bring another Cup back to Tampa.”

Hedman was clearly emotional talking about his best friend and former teammate leaving the organization. Asked how he was going to get through it..

“You know, there's going to be a realization early on in training camp that Stammer’s not there and I’m just gonna have to be ready for that," Hedman said.

Stamkos has been the captain since 2014 following the trade of Marty St. Louis. Hedman has worn the “A” on his jersey right next to Stamkos since 2018-19. Asked whether he would accept the role as the new Lightning captain, Hedman said it was “way too early” to have the conversation.

“I don’t know what to say to that. I look at myself as a leader, and I’ve been an alternate captain for many, many years behind the best captain in the game," said Hedman. "So, we’ll see where it goes in the future. But yeah, it’s been close to 24 hours since Stammer left, so I think it would be disrespectful to him and not fair to anyone to comment on that.”

Hedman, 33, appeared in 78 regular-season games for the Lightning in 2023-24, posting 13 goals, 76 points, and a plus-18 rating. He also had one goal and seven points in five playoff games this year.