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.