It was on March 19, after playing only six shifts totaling 4:44 of ice time against the Vancouver Canucks, that he made the decision to step away from the Lightning.
"For me, it was not really feeling low, but it was performance anxiety, kind of feeling that pressure in your chest as soon as a gameday would hit," Hedman said. "It kind of locks you up. You make a mistake and in the past you'd be able to shake it off, but I couldn't do that. And I wasn't feeling 100 percent physically."
Earlier last season, Hedman missed 12 games with an undisclosed injury from Nov. 12 through Dec. 4. He was placed on injured reserve on Dec. 11, the Lightning announcing four days later that he would have a procedure on his elbow.
He missed the next 22 games, returning for the last three regular-season games before the NHL broke for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
Hedman played for the first four games for Team Sweden in the Olympics, but was injured during warmups ahead of the quarterfinals against the United States. He stayed in uniform on the bench, but didn’t play in a 2-1 overtime loss.
He returned to the Lightning and played the first 12 games coming out of the Olympic break but didn't go back on the ice after the first period in the game against the Canucks.
"With the elbow, I felt like I was behind on the plays," Hedman said. "I wasn't skating well, and that's one of my biggest strengths. When I skate and I skate well that's when I'm at my best. I just thought all of those combinations made me come to the conclusion that I obviously need to step away and focus on (getting healthy) before rejoining the team, looking more like myself again both on the ice and off the ice."
Hedman didn't worry about how he would be perceived when he took his leave of absence, saying he knew he was doing it for the right reasons.
But he also said he expected to face some backlash, especially because of the time of the season and the fact that it carried into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I felt it was important for me to do to get a handle on everything mentally and physically," Hedman said. "Someone told me that for good leaders sometimes doing the right thing for the team is to kind of step away. I thought that was the right decision for me. I wasn't myself on the ice. I felt I wasn't helping the team. So, I felt the best thing for the team was for me to focus on myself away. I don't regret that decision at all. It was the right thing to do."
He resumed skating on his own and with the team during practices in the playoffs, and said he likely would have been able to return if the Lightning advanced, but they were eliminated on May 3, losing Game 7 to the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in the Eastern Conference First Round.
Along the way, Hedman worked regularly with his longtime therapist, and he discovered just how much support he has inside and outside the NHL.
"A lot of great support," Hedman said. "I was super flattered by that."
Hedman pays it forward now by being open and willing to talk about what he went through, using his platform to go public with it with the hope that maybe his story can help other people feel comfortable to address their own struggles with mental health.
"The stigma, I think it's getting a lot better but it's still probably there," he said. "At the same time, people go through this, and it's a lot more people than you think. It's good to be able to put it out there, that it is OK not to be OK."
Hedman wasn't OK in his 17th NHL season, when he was limited to 17 points (one goal, 16 assists) in 33 games.
He's preparing for his 18th season in good health, with a positive outlook, and high expectations.
"I'm happy it happened at this stage in my career where I know what I can do, I know what I can bring to the team, and I know what I can do on a daily basis when I'm healthy," Hedman said. "I have zero doubt in my mind. I haven't played a game since obviously March, but for me at this point I know what it takes to be good in this league. I've had a great summer and I feel great going into camp."
