The Tampa Bay Lightning have announced that goaltender Andrei Vasilevsky will be out eight to twelve weeks after undergoing successful back surgery. Vasilevsky has been the backbone of the Tampa Bay Lightning and has led the NHL in wins in five of the past six seasons while also leading the Bolts to back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2020 and 2021. The Russian netminder has a career record of 263-123-28 with a 2.52 GAA, .919 SV%, and 32 shutouts. He has been named to five All-Star games in his career and, has been a Venzia Finalist four times, and won the award back in 2020.
This is a massive blow to the Lightning as they are one of the few teams without a proven backup goaltender, and with Vasilevsky out, they will likely be in the market for a goaltender as without adding a goaltender, they’d be looking at a tandem of Jonas Johansson, and Matt Tompkins/Hugo Alnefelt. Johansson has 35 NHL games under his belt as he has an 11-13-4 record with a 3.32 GAA, .887 SV%, and one shutout. One name that stands out to replace Vasilevsky is Jaroslav Halak, who is currently a free agent and played 25 games last season for the New York Rangers, putting up a 10-9-5 record with a 2.72 GAA, .903 SV%, and one shutout. Halak has been both a starter and a back-up in his career and could be an affordable option moving forward for the Bolts.
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