With just over a week left before the 2023-24 NHL season starts, the Lightning were dealt a massive blow on Thursday when it was announced by Kevin Weekes of ESPN that goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy will miss 8-to-10 weeks after undergoing back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation. The surgery was a success, and Vasilevskiy is expected to miss at least the first two months of the Lightning's regular season.
While the Lightning will certainly miss Vasilevskiy, this isn't the first time they've had to miss him for an extended period. In November 2019, Vasilevskiy missed six weeks with a broken foot sustained in practice. The Lightning, captained by backup goaltender Louis Domingue, went 12-2-0. Domingue started a streak to a then-franchise record of ten consecutive wins and put up an 11-2 record with a .912 save percentage. While it has been a while since the Lightning have been without their stalwart goaltender, they've shown they can do it before.
The question now becomes who will take the mantle until Vasilevskiy's return. Goaltender Jonas Johansson, signed on July 1 as the backup, now slots in as the team's starter for the foreseeable future. As for the backup role, one of Hugo Alnefelt or Matt Tomkins could take over that spot. With these three goaltenders combining for a total of 36 NHL games of experience and Johansson having 35 of them, it makes sense that the Lightning would be looking at other options with just over a week to go before the season opener.
There are also options in the trade and free-agent markets, with eight free-agent goaltenders who played at least one game last season. The name that makes the most sense is Jaroslav Halák, who had a .903 save percentage over 25 games with the Rangers last year.
Want to start your journalism career by writing about the Tampa Bay Lightning? Send us a message via our contact form located in the upper right-hand corner under the more tab, or send us a message via Twitter to get started.
Comments