Lightning place star goaltender on LTIR

The Tampa Bay Lightning officially placed goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on LTIR as he recovers from back surgery, per CapFriendly. In a corresponding move, the team also brought forward Waltteri Merelä back up from AHL Syracuse, and he could make his NHL debut in a few hours against the Nashville Predators. Merelä was sent down temporarily to help the Lightning optimize their LTIR capture before opening-night rosters were due, which they did to the tune of $2.

Vasilevskiy underwent surgery late last month and was given an eight- to 10-week timeline for recovery. That puts him well within the bounds of LTIR, which requires a player to miss at least ten games and 24 days. That means Vasilevskiy won’t return until next month at the absolute earliest, although an early December return is much more likely. The all-world netminder started 60 games for the Lightning last season, going 34-22-4 with a .915 save percentage and 2.65 goals-against average. Those were, unbelievably, his worst numbers since becoming the Lightning’s starter in 2016. Since the Lightning did not make any waiver claims over the past few days, Vasilevskiy’s absence leaves 28-year-old Jonas Johansson, with just 35 NHL appearances under his belt, as their starter for the next two months.

The Lightning signed Merelä, 25, to a one-year, two-way contract worth $870K this summer. Undrafted, the 6-foot-2 right wing has enjoyed back-to-back strong seasons with Liiga’s Tappara and made one appearance for Finland at the 2023 World Championship, scoring a goal. After a strong camp, Merelä was not technically on the team’s opening-night roster but was expected to suit up in today’s game regardless. The pending restricted free agent does not require waivers to go to AHL Syracuse, where he could find himself later on in the season if he can’t hold onto a roster spot.

With Vasilevskiy on LTIR and Merelä recalled the Lightning have $8.55MM remaining in their LTIR salary pool, per CapFriendly. While that’s a lot of flexibility, they won’t be able to take advantage of it for any significant amount of time. The Lightning will need to shed $950K in salary to activate Vasilevskiy when healthy.