Vasilevskiy had back surgery on September 28
The Tampa Bay Lightning are off to a rough start this season. Star forward Steven Stamkos has been vocal about his future with the team, but the more pressing issue now is that goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy will miss 8-10 weeks following a successful microdiscectomy surgery due to a lumbar disc herniation.
Vasilevskiy, considered to be one of the league’s absolute best goaltenders, will miss the start of the regular season and a few more weeks. The Lightning don’t have great depth at the position, as recently-signed backup goalie Jonas Johansson will take the reins in the interim. Tampa Bay may look for reinforcements in free agency or waivers in the lead-up to the season.
The news comes on the day when we released our 2023-24 NHL Betting Guide to VSiN Pro subscribers.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stats
Vasilevskiy has a Vezina Trophy for the best regular season goaltender and a Conn Smythe Trophy for the Stanley Cup MVP to his name. For his career, Vasilevskiy has a 2.52 GAA with a .919 SV%. He has four other top-10 finishes in the Vezina voting and led the league in wins for five straight seasons before coming up short last year.
Johansson, who has only played in 35 games over four seasons and has played for three different teams. Veteran netminder Brian Elliott is also in the equation for the Lightning.
Tampa Bay Lightning odds
The Lightning are +2000 to win the Stanley Cup and +950 to win the Eastern Conference. Odds to win the Atlantic Division were taken down in light of the Vasilevskiy injury.
Vasilevskiy is still +800 to win the Vezina, but he projects to miss about six weeks or so of the regular season.