Chris Johnston

And I certainly don't want to guess at how long he's going to be out for and what, what the nature of what he's dealing with is to step away from the team.

But, you know, it's been just one of those seasons in Tampa.

I mean, part of it is they have a veteran roster.

I think when you have an older team, you have to expect there's going to be injuries and,

and things that happened.

But they played a lot of games this year without Hedman, without McDonough.

You know, their forwards, obviously, they had Sorelli and Braden Point both miss the Olympics after being named to Team Canada.

You know, I watched their game last Saturday in Edmonton.

Sorelli left the game at one point.

Hangle left the game at one point.

They both came back.

But it just gives you the impression that, you know, this is a pretty veteran team that's already, you know, weathered a lot of –

you know, a lot of mileage this year.

And they're probably the best team in the Eastern Conference on paper.

And if you look at things like the underlying numbers, I think suggests that Tampa's would be poised for the kind of run to get back to a Stanley Cup final.

But, you know, there's circumstances that could get in the way of that.

And I think one of them would be Hedman not being able to get back and be part of their lineup and part of their success.

So it's a big story, but it's hard to know where it's going because I don't know how long he's going to be out for.

Yeah, I mean, look, there's more expectation this year.

I mean, last year they were just sort of happy to get in, right?