Off-Season Surgeries (Sep 4)

On Friday morning, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that their projected back-up goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy, has undergone vascular surgery on Thursday, removing a blood clot from his collarbone.  The recovery time is now being set at 2-to-3 months and the Tampa management team is suggesting that it will be much closer to the 12-week mark, than it would be the 8-week mark.

Three months will have the 21-year old keeper on the shelf into December, which could make him into a solid candidate for a pick in the first Waiver Draft, which begins at the end of November.

There is some concern in Tampa Bay about the goaltending situation, as Ben Bishop, the team's number one, has been recovering from a groin tear in the off-season and who will step up to fill the spot for the first couple months of the year.  Kristers Gudlevskis has to be the favourite before camp, but the team is going to look into inviting some veteran talent to camp, so stay tuned.

Vasilevskiy has been a popular player in the projections, garnering a lot of attention from some publications, topping out at 54 points (The Sports Forecaster) and challenging Bishop for the number one job in Tampa this season.  You're now going to have to temper a lot of those projections, adjusting them for missing upwards of eight of 27 weeks this season.

An update from a post, back in May, as Nicklas Backstrom underwent hip surgery and the prognosis was positive 3+ months ago, but now it isn't looking quite so rosy.

With the opening of training camp only a couple weeks away, Backstrom has been on the ice skating, but he isn't quite 100%, which may have him out of the lineup on opening night, which goes October 10th for Washington.

I think by opening night, he should be day-to-day, but it is a significant problem and he has been quoted as to say that he won't be playing at 90% and that he's going to be patient with his injury.  Of course, we'll likely know more before the draft on October 3rd, so keep your ear to the ground.