The Tampa Bay Lightning are in training camp mode with the preseason just days away. Few are as eager to get back out there as goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, and his teammates have noticed. “Being healthy is huge,” Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov said at media day. “I am 31 and he is 30, and it is important to take care of our bodies. It is huge to not have to deal with injuries and stuff.”
Vasilevskiy missed the first quarter of last season recovering from back surgery. When he returned, it was clear he wasn’t quite himself. He had a career-worst save percentage (.900) and goals against average (2.90, GAA) – compared to his All-Star level career average of .917 save percentage and a 2.56 GAA.
The injury and post-surgery play were a wake-up call that something had to change. Vasilevskiy said he’s making adjustments accordingly. “Eliminate the gym. I changed some things,” Vasilevskiy said at media day. “Less weights now and more goalie stuff. I feel, looking at me in the gym, I look silly, the stuff I do, but it is actually really hard.”
That being said, these adjustments are solely for the off-the-ice routine. When he’s between the pipes, expect nothing different.
“I will play 60 to 70 games or whatever the coach will give me,” he said. “… I realized, off the ice, I have to do something a little different now but, on the ice, I am all in. I love to play a lot.” He’s played 60 games plenty of times over the years. As for 70? Pump the breaks a bit.
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Like I said before, Vasilevskiy is eager to get back out on the ice, but he will also play in every single Stanley Cup Playoff game for the Lightning. Any rest he can get during the regular season will help the team achieve the ultimate goal.
What Will Vasilevskiy’s Workload Look Like?
If he’s fully healthy, there is no reason Vasilevskiy’s workload will be limited in any fashion during the 2024-25 season. It could be argued that he’s playing healthy for the first time since well before he actually hurt his back. He wasn’t looking quite right in the second half of the 2022-23 season. It’s possible that trouble was brewing as early as then. He’s never going to take himself out of the lineup and the Lightning won’t either.
Even when he was coming back from surgery, the Lightning didn’t hesitate to play him as often as they possibly could. He played 52 games after Thanksgiving. That’s a lot after surgery. That’s the same number of games he played during the 2019-20 regular season that was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The only difference between this season and last is he will play a similar number of games but with more off days in between. Expect a normal workload. Last season, cannot be called a normal workload by any means.
What would also help is if backup Jonas Johansson takes a step forward in his game this season. He helped keep the Lightning afloat in Vasilevskiy’s absence, but it’s been a bit since the team has had a high-quality backup option. If he plays well, Vasilevskiy can rest and be ready for the top opponents.
We’ll see what all this builds up to soon enough. Vasilevskiy will see live action when the preseason starts on Sept. 24 and regular season action beginning on Oct. 11.
