Tyler Johnson and Victor Hedman Both Out Tonight Against Oilers

By Tasha St. Pierre | Jan 15, 2015

There is both some good news and some bad news coming out of the Bolts Nation tonight as the Tampa Bay Lightning head home to the Amalie Arena after a tiring road trip in order to play host to former Lightning wingers Benoit Pouliot and Teddy Purcell along with the rest of the Edmonton Oilers.

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As many of you are already painfully aware, in Monday night’s battle at the Wells Fargo Center with Claude Giroux and the Philadelphia Flyers both Lightning center Tyler Johnson and Victor Hedman sustained Lower Body Injuries that would not only prevent them from returning to the game, but playing the following night at the TD Garden against Zdeno Chara and the Boston Bruins as well.

After dropping Monday’s game 7-3 to the Flyers, the Bolts certainly could have used Johnson’s presence on the Triplet line as they charged into the TD Garden to square off with Boston, but alas…it was not meant to be.

So, as we said before, there is some good news and some bad news, followed by some potentially worse news to come out of Tampa Bay today. After this morning’s skate, Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach gave the world some insight as to the progression of both Johnson and Hedman’s recoveries.

The bad news is both players have been ruled out of tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oilers. While the Oilers may not be the high pressure scorers that we have faced in the past, nor are they as hard hitting as the two teams we met during out back-to-back series, Johnson and Hedman’s presence would certainly add something to the game.

The good news here is that Johnson seems to be recovering quite nicely. While he may be out of tonight’s encounter, Cooper said that there is a possibility that we would see him prior to the NHL All-Star Game, which Johnson is set to take part in.

As far as the potentially worse news goes, it seems that there is a little more to Victor Hedman’s injury than initially anticipated. While Cooper did not specify on when we may see Hedman once again, he did say that Johnson was closer to returning than Hedman.

The silver lining in this is that we are indeed heading into the NHL All-Star Game. Since Hedman will not be competing in the All-Star Game, he will have almost an entire week with nothing on the schedule, which will afford him a little extra time off of his feet to recover.

Does this necessarily mean that we will see him any sooner? Unfortunately, there simply is no telling. Just because he is afforded the time doesn’t necessarily mean that his body will respond any differently.

According to Tampa Bay Lightning Beat Writer Bryan Burns, Johnson was on the ice this morning for the morning skate; however, he was in a red no-contact jersey. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Victor Hedman. This adds a little weight to Cooper’s words about Johnson being closer than Hedman.

Despite being sidelined a few games, Tyler Johnson still leads the Tampa Bay Lightning in points. In the 43 games he’s played so far this season, Johnson has netted 17 goals and 29 assists for a total of 46 points to accompany his whopping plus-25 player rating.

Of course, if Tyler is out too much longer, and Steven Stamkos continues the way he has been playing lately, we may have a little competition for the top spot.

Victor Hedman is tied with Anton Stralman among the Lightning defensemen in points with 20. Hedman was on quite the scoring streak at the beginning of the season, having 3 goals and 4 assists in the first three games of the season. Unfortunately, that hit a bit of a skid when Hedman was forced to miss 18 games due to an Upper Body Injury he sustained on October 18^th as the Lightning took on the Vancouver Canucks.

There is no denying that having both Johnson and Hedman on the ice would do a lot to improve the Lightning lineup, but at the end of the day we would rather afford them the time they need to properly recover and get them back on the ice in full form.

How do you think the absence of Tyler Johnson and Victor Hedman has affected the Lightning lineup? Do you think we’ll see Hedman again before the All-Star break, or will we have to wait just a little longer to get our favorite Swedish defenseman back out on the ice? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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