Hedman delayed, expected to rejoin Lightning for round-robin

Victor Hedman did not travel with the Tampa Bay Lightning to Toronto on Sunday for the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, but the defenseman is expected to play in their three round-robin games.

Hedman will not play in the Lightning's exhibition game against the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city, Wednesday (12 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-F, SUN).

Hedman, a finalist for the Norris Trophy given to the best defenseman in the NHL, will stay in Tampa for a personal matter and is expected to join the Lightning on Friday according to general manager Julien BriseBois.

"Victor Hedman won't be on [the team] flight," BriseBois said. "He came to me and asked if we could grant him a few more days in Tampa to tend to a personal matter. We've worked out a protocol for him to be able to do that. He's going to stay back in Tampa this week with Marc Lambert, our director of sports performance.

"We're essentially extending their Phase 3 where they will continue to test every day. [Hedman] will be able to skate at Amalie Arena and get some off-ice workouts."

Hedman led Lightning defensemen with 11 goals and 55 points in 66 games. His 22 power-play points (four goals, 18 assists) were second behind Nikita Kucherov (four goals, 21 assists)

"Victor will be available to play the three seeding games and get a few practices in before the seeding games." BriseBois said.

The Lightning will play the Washington Capitals (Aug. 3), Boston Bruins (Aug. 5) and Philadelphia Flyers (Aug. 8) at Scotiabank Arena in the round-robin to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the East.

Steven Stamkos is continuing to recover from a lower-body injury from the end of Phase 2 and has yet to participate in a full practice.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper said the forward continues to improve, although he would not put a timetable on his return.

"With Stamkos we're hopeful he's going to continue to progress here once we get to Toronto," Cooper said. "We've still got a little bit of time left and so it's kind of still in our window of time to have him back. He's not playing in the exhibition game naturally.

"We're taking this day by day, but there has been a lot of improvement and hopefully we can start ramping things up with Stamkos when we get to Toronto."

Stamkos was a partial participant in practices last week, usually participating in power play drills. This week he spent most of the week skating in early sessions with a group of call-ups.

He scored 29 goals and 66 points in 57 games, led the Lightning with 10 power-play goals and takes most of the key face-offs.

"I think it's vital that he plays in one of those games," Cooper said. "I'm not going to sit here and say that's going to happen. I think he would be the first to tell you that if he could play in most of the games it would be a bonus.

"We would love to get him in one, even better to get him in two and awesome to get him in all three. But we'll take this one game at a time. One game is better than none. It's hard to jump in these games, so if we can get him in one or two beforehand that will be a big step for our team and more importantly him."

BriseBois said the expectation is that Stamkos will be available for all three round-robin games.

"We have all reason to believe that by the time that our games start in Toronto he will be fully healthy and a full participant," BriseBois said.