The Tampa Bay Lightning have assigned goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League on a conditioning assignment, the team announced on Wednesday.
Vasilevskiy was sidelined prior to the start of the season with a blood clot that required surgery.
He was tagged to be the number two in Tampa and his absence caused some brief goaltending conundrums with the team claiming Kevin Poulin off waivers and then waiving him to bring up Kristers Gudlevskis.
The team expects Vasilevskiy to play on Wednesday night against the Toronto Marlies, reports Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.
Vasilevskiy made his NHL debut last season, playing 16 games and posting a .918 all situation save percentage. He also grabbed two games in the postseason while Ben Bishop was injured.
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Dustin Nelson is the News Editor for The Hockey Writers. He’s a contributor to Hockey Prospectus, Hockey Wilderness, and writes a column for Rotowire. He’s also written for Gone Puck Wild, Wild Xtra, InDigest, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Tiny Mix Tapes, Prefix Magazine & other publications. Have a tip? Email him at dlukenelson[at]gmail[dot]com.
