The Tampa Bay Lightning announced some tough news on Friday: promising goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy will miss two-to-three months after getting a blood clot removed from an area near his left collarbone.

Vasilevskiy, who spent part of his rookie season with the Syracuse Crunch past year, is expected to fully recover and he should be able to return to the ice in 2-3 months. The Lightning open the season at home on October. 8 against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Vasilevskiy also appeared in four games in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Stay with TBO.com for updates. Does he allow Kristers Gudlevskis, Adam Wilcox or Allen York to assume the backup role while Vasilevskiy is out or should the likes of Jonas Gustavsson or Ray Emery keep their phones on?

With National Hockey League training camps set to open in just under two weeks, the defending Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning were dealt an unexpected blow to their lineup.

With that timetable, Vasilevskiy figures to sit out through at least early- or mid-November, and quite possibly longer if his recovery trends toward the longer end of that period of time. With Vasilveskiy out, this gives Bishop a little more job security and probably guarantees pretty heavy usage at the start of the season as well.