TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 From the Tampa Bay Times: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/hockey/lightning/lightning-goalie-andrei-vasilevskiy-out-2-3-months/2244236 Some potential trouble here for the Bolts:They go from being 'goalie rich', to maybe needing to sign someone from outside the organization for a back up goaltender role. Andrei Vasilevskiy, the incumbent back up to Ben Bishop, will not be starting the season on time with the Lightning.Blood clot removal from his collarbone...had successful removal surgery, but now needs to recover, have his training camp and conditioning stints, etc, etc...meanwhile the team must start the defense of their Eastern Conference title without him. Sure, the Bolts have Kristers Gudlevskis, Adam Wilcox, and Allan York in their organization for possible back up duties, but the Bolts fear none of them may be quite ready for the 'big time' just yet....despite the fact that guys like Wilcox and Gudlevskis in particular are actually OLDER than the recovering Andrei V. by a couple years. Of the goalies the Bolts have, Gudlevskis SHOULD be the one closest to being ready.....but nothing is going to be handed to him, he will have to earn that with a big training camp and pre-season.Last season, when the Bolts were faced with the decision to promote either Andrei V or Kristers G, it was clear that Vasilevskiy outperformed Gudlevski at every turn. If Kristers doesn't capture the confidence of Stevie Y, and he also feels the other two goalies aren't NHL ready, then Yzerman may very well look to outside the organization and try to sign a vet..........which WON'T be easy due to salary cap concerns (as of this posting, the Bolts are still slightly over, but that may alleviate itself once Mattias 'Albatross' Ohlunds LTIR contract kicks in (last year for him being on the books...thank goodness!). Still though, even with a bit of salary relief, who is really out there that the Bolts could sign?It's not like the organization expects Vasilevskiy to be out well into the season, but Yzerman still has to cover his bases, so to speak, to account for setbacks to Vasilevskiy, Bishop himself going down with an injury, or poor performance by any in-house goaltenders, or even a slow start by Andrei V himself once he does get back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mishey Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 This is a bummer. Gudlevskis really struggled last season and wasn't the player that he was in the Olympics and Wilcox is just coming out of college. I personally see a higher upside in Wilcox and wonder if he won't push Gudlevskis down the depth chart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 This is a bummer. Gudlevskis really struggled last season and wasn't the player that he was in the Olympics and Wilcox is just coming out of college. I personally see a higher upside in Wilcox and wonder if he won't push Gudlevskis down the depth chart. Yes, this indeed is bummer.... The Bolts' resolve will be tested right away and we haven't even started pre-season yet. This worry could all be for nothing if Ben Bishop starts the season as a Vezina candidate and someone like a Gudlevskis, York, or Wilcox do just enough to hold down the back up role......but I also realize that Steve Yzerman simply can't sit back and 'hope for the best'.Since he took over as GM, Yzerman seemingly always has some sort of contingency plan...I expect this situation to be no different. Like I said before though, he is hamstrung a bit by the salary cap, so we will have to see how he handles that.I've long said the Bolts need to move a high salary or two anyways........let's not forget we have a Mr. Steve Stamkos who will be due a big raise, and he will be followed shortly thereafter by guys like Victor Hedman, Tyler Johnson, and Ondrej Palat. My candidates for moving out bodies and salaries so far would be Matt Carle ($5.5M hit) and Valteri Filppula ($5 M cap hit).....$10.5M per can be freed up for those two players. But anyways, back to the topic at hand...Vasilevskiy is such a big piece of the Bolts moving forward.....in fact, I had suggested in this forum and in others that if Vasy IS the real deal, that perhaps Ben Bishop could become expendable. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE Ben Bishop...but when his contract is up (after the 2016-17 season), he will not only be 30, but will probably command much more than his current $5.9M salary if he remains an elite level goalie! And if Vasy can do what Bishop can, at a fraction of the cost, you have to believe the Bolts would rather have Vasy as their number one and promote someone else to be the back up. All speculation on my part of course.For the here and now, Bishop is still the man.....but you best believe that Andrei Vasilevskiy is more than just a back up....he was set to see some serious ice time so the Bolts can see whether he can be 'handed the keys' or not.Thus this injury is a setback to those plans. Let's hope Vasy comes back strong.Oh, and welcome to the forums, @mishey ! Nice to see another Bolts fan. You should go to the new members section and make an intro thread and let the rest of the community know a bit more about yourself.Hope you like it here...I certainly do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Wonder if this effects rux's keeper situation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mishey Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I too believe that Bishop is the stop gap for now and that's what he's always meant to have been. Yzerman totally wants to constantly build from the inside and Vasy is part of that. Carle can go, I agree. Plenty behind him. I don't know who else could set up Stammer as of now, so I'm not keen on Val going just yet. I did already make a post there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I too believe that Bishop is the stop gap for now and that's what he's always meant to have been. Yzerman totally wants to constantly build from the inside and Vasy is part of that. Carle can go, I agree. Plenty behind him. I don't know who else could set up Stammer as of now, so I'm not keen on Val going just yet. I did already make a post there. Welcome to the forum! I think the Bolts are gonna be fine in net, no worries. If you figure a typical backup gets a start a week we are talking maybe 4-8 regular season starts tops. If Bishop takes a couple of those it really leaves no more than a handful of starts for the backup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Wonder if this effects rux's keeper situation?LOL, I knew that would be one of the first things you'd think. Yeah, it might. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RApollos Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 This definitely means Bishop will start the season. Hope Vasilevskiy recovers well, he has shown good promise and potential and hopefully this doesn't derail his career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mishey Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 There wasn't any doubt that Bishop would be starting the season. This pretty much just puts his back-up in doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teenagemutantninjahertl Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I expect Ray Emery to sign and be the backup till 88 comes back. Then the Bolts will look to trade Emery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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