Brewin Flames Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 Vasilevskiy out 10 weeks for Lightning after back surgery Goalie, 2-time Stanley Cup winner, leads NHL in wins since 2015-16 Andrei Vasilevskiy is expected to be out 10 weeks for the Tampa Bay Lightning after having back surgery Thursday. The goalie underwent a successful microdiscectomy to address a lumbar disk herniation. Earlier in the week, Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Vasilevskiy was day to day, but there were no long-term concerns and that he expected the goalie to play in one of the Lightning's final three preseason games. The goalie practiced for the first time Tuesday after the he had limited himself to group work for the first four days of training camp. "It's early in training camp, so we don't need to rush anything along with him," Cooper said Sunday. "When he's ready to go, he'll be there." The Lightning open the regular season Oct. 10 against the Nashville Predators. They play their 28th game of the season on Dec. 7, 10 weeks from Thursday. Vasilevskiy was 34-22-4 with a 2.65 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and four shutouts in 60 games last season, the sixth straight season he had at least 30 wins. He had led or tied for the NHL lead in wins each of the previous five seasons from 2017-22. The 29-year-old won the Vezina Trophy in 2018-19 and has finished top five in voting in five of the past six seasons. Since 2015-16, he leads the NHL in wins (256) and is third in shutouts (31). Vasilevskiy helped the Lightning win the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons, playing every minute in the 2020 and 2021 playoffs. He was 16-7 with a 1.90 GAA, .937 save percentage and five shutouts in 23 games to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2021. At the Lightning's media day, Vasilevskiy hinted that he would take a slower approach to camp after making some adjustments to his offseason training program. "I made some changes, nothing much," Vasilevskiy said. "I am paying attention to my recovery a lot more now." The Lightning currently have three other goalies on their training camp roster -- Jonas Johansson, Matt Tompkins and Hugo Alnefelt – with Johansson the only one to have started in an NHL game. Johansson has played 35 NHL games (28 starts) with the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres and is 11-13-4 with a 3.32 GAA and .887 save percentage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 wow .... curious to know why he did not have this done earlier this summer ?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 19 minutes ago, pilldoc said: wow .... curious to know why he did not have this done earlier this summer ?????? Well, missing 2 months knocks 2 months off his 9.5 million caphit It's possible he aggravated it in camp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 1 hour ago, J0e Th0rnton said: It's possible he aggravated it in camp Yeah ...that is a possibility ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted September 29, 2023 Share Posted September 29, 2023 3 hours ago, pilldoc said: Yeah ...that is a possibility ..... From what I was reading, he had an injection done in summer for the lumbar disc herniation, and it just didn't improve the situation enough by the start of camp. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted September 29, 2023 Share Posted September 29, 2023 Lovely. Between this and the Stamkos so called "stand off" with management on a contract extension, the Bolts may be in turmoil this coming season. Not that anyone is gonna feel sorry for them.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewin Flames Posted September 29, 2023 Author Share Posted September 29, 2023 Stammer, maybe, as a player....he deserves the Brinks Truck. But the bolts as a whole, nope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted October 9, 2023 Share Posted October 9, 2023 On 9/29/2023 at 5:03 AM, Brewin Flames said: Stammer, maybe, as a player....he deserves the Brinks Truck. But the bolts as a whole, nope. This very strange... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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