A stent delivery assembly includes a delivery balloon defining a balloon axis, and a stent disposed around the delivery balloon. The stent has interconnected struts, and the delivery balloon has a balloon surface with a number of strips that are disposed on the balloon surface and extend along the balloon axis, the strips having an unhydrated state and a hydrated state, the strips having a smaller volume in the unhydrated state than in the hydrated state. For a stent composed of axially aligned segments connected via connectors disposed between adjacent ones of the segments, the strips have a length greater than an axial distance between axially outermost connectors connecting the adjacent ones of the segments
