Fantasy Fallout: Vasilevskiy out two months
Andrei Vasilevskiy underwent a successful microdiscectomy on Thursday morning and is expected to miss approximately the first two months of the regular season.
Vasilevskiy underwent surgery to address a lumbar disc herniation, the Lightning said in a statement. Missing the season’s first two months would keep him sidelined until at least early December and force him to miss approximately 24 games (29.3 percent of the season).
As of Thursday, Jonas Johansson is the only goalie under contract in Tampa who has any NHL experience. The 28-year-old netminder struggled mightily in his first few seasons in the NHL, going 9-13-4 with a 3.46 GAA and .882 SV% in 32 appearances (26 starts) with the Sabres, Avalanche and Panthers. However, he returned to Colorado via waivers in 2023 and looked better, going 2-0-0 with a 2.10 GAA and .932 SV%. That said, the Lightning will almost certainly look to add another goalie, whether in a trade or a free agent signing. The two most likely free-agent signings would be Brian Elliott or Jaroslav Halak. Elliott would be the most logical since he spent the last two seasons in Tampa, going 23-12-5 with a 2.96 GAA and .900 SV%. There’s also the potential for a waiver claim. Spencer Martin was the first goalie waived on Thursday, but he struggled in 2023, posting an .871 SV% in 29 games.
Depending on who the Lightning bring in will determine just how much fantasy value they will have in the first two months. So we’ll have to see how it plays out over the next two weeks.
As for Vasilevskiy, his draft stock is sure to plummet. I originally had him ranked No.18 overall and the No.3 goalie. I had him projected for 61.5 starts, 38.8 wins, a 2.59 GAA, .917 SV% and 3.8 shutouts. Now it’s hard to imagine he’ll start over 40 games this season, and getting to 25-plus wins will be difficult. Vasilevskiy goes from a second-round pick to someone you probably shouldn’t grab until the seventh or eighth round (in 12-team leagues), where he should be viewed as a low-end No.2 netminder for the season as a whole. Once he returns, he’ll be among the best fantasy goalies, but spending more than a mid-round pick on a goalie who is guaranteed to miss nearly 1/3 of the season isn’t advised.