Hedman is a produce of the Swedish town of Ornskoldsvik, which is the hometown of numerous NHL stars like Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund. Like Forsberg and Naslund before him, Hedman was trained in the MODO hockey organization. Ever the precocious young player, Hedman jumped to the J20 Superelit ranks quickly for MODO in 2005-2006 at the age of 15 where he played 10 games after spending 8 games at the J18 level. The following year, in 2006-2007, Hedman again split his time between MODO's J18 and J20 clubs, and he appeared for Sweden in the U-18 World Junior Championships where he was named a tournament All-Star after scoring 1 goal and 3 points in 6 games in the tournament. In 2007-2008, at the age of 17, Hedman made his Elitserien debut for MODO, playing in 39 games and scoring 2 goals and 4 points after a short 6 games in J20. Hedman also again appeared for Sweden in the U-18 World Junior Championships and again was named a tournament All-Star with 1 goal and 4 points in 4 games. He also made his debut at the U-20 World Junior Championships and was named a tounrament All-Star there as well after registering an assist and a +1 rating in 6 games. Following the season, Hedman was touted as the leading candidate to be the top pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by The Hockey News. In 2008-2009, he spent all but 2 games at the Elitserien level with MODO where he played roughly 20 minutes a night and scored 7 goals and 21 points with a +21 rating in 43 games at the age of 18. Hedman's plus/minus rating was tied for the third best in the league. Hedman also appeared in 6 games for Sweden at the U-20 World Junior Championships, but his 2 assists and +4 rating in 6 games were considered a disappointment by his standards. He was named the top skater prospect for in Europe by the NHL Central Scouting Service for the June draft and the top overall prospect by Red Line Report. In June, he was selected by the Lightning second overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. In July of 2009 he signed an entry-level contract with the club.
