Lightning’s Victor Hedman, Hagel to return against Jets

The Tampa Bay Lightning are getting one of their top players back into their lineup, and his arrival could not be coming at a better time.

Veteran and franchise legend defenseman Victor Hedman will be back on the ice for the Bolts as they take on the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. Winger Brandon Hagel, who has not missed a game but had his status for this contest up in the air, will also play.

The six-foot-seven No. 2 overall pick from the 2009 NHL Draft, Hedman has 4 points in 10 games this year while skating to a plus-5 rating on an average of 13:35 of time on ice per game. With J.J. Moser, Ryan McDonagh, John Carlson and Erik Cernak in the fold, the Lightning have been able to shelter Hedman and effectively manage his role in his age-35 season.

With Hagel and Hedman both in the lineup, head coach Jon Cooper will deploy what has been a favorite strategy of his in running a lineup consisting of 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. Veteran forward Zemgus Girgensons will not play and is out on a day-to-day basis, and Tampa has plenty of depth defensively to spread minutes around on the back end.

The Lightning, perennially one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, have looked like such to start this season, but a dearth of games played compared to their Atlantic Division foes has them sitting in sixth in the division by points, though they’re second by points percentage.

Despite the overall strong start, Tampa has dropped its past two games as the Jets come to town, so the Bolts will be looking to get right against a Winnipeg team that started the year out hot but has lost six straight games to plummet down the Central Division standings.