Victor Hedman Photo by Bridget Samuels / Flickr

The exodus of locked out NHL players to European hockey leagues has finally hit the Tampa Bay Lightning. Defenseman Victor Hedman’s agent Peter Wallen said that his client has signed a contract with Barys Astana of the Kontinental Hockey League. Barys is based in Kazakhstan.

 Damian Crisodero broke the news that Hedman will report to his new team on Friday.Swedish Leagues recently opened their doors to the displaced players, so it’s a bit surprising that the Swedish native didn’t return home to play.

This is most likely just the start of a lot of our Lightning boys heading overseas. There have been quite a few Twitter rumors that Steven Stamkos and Marty St. Louis are near signing in Switzerland.

For now, we wait . We wait and grumble that our timelines are filled with talk of replacement refs and not preseaon hockey.