Andrei Vasilevskiy is expected to be out 10 weeks for the Tampa Bay Lightning after 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 on Tuesday after limiting himself to team work for the first four days of training camp.
“It’s still early in training camp, so we don’t have to rush him,” Cooper said Sunday. “When he’s ready to go, he’s there.”
The Lightning open the regular season Oct. 10 against the Nashville Predators. They will play their 28th game of the season on December 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 led or tied for the NHL lead in wins each of the last five seasons from 2017-22.
The 29-year-old won the Vezina Trophy in 2018-19 and finished in the 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 suggested he would take a slower approach to camp after making some changes to his offseason training program.
“I made some changes, nothing much,” Vasilevskiy said. “I’m paying attention to my recovery 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 start an NHL game.
Johansson has played 35 NHL games (28 starts) with the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabers and is 11-13-4 with a 3.32 GAA and .887 save percentage.
NHL.com independent reporter Corey Long contributed to this report