Lightning build new team in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy

It’s been an unconventional and emotional week for Lightning fans. GM Julien BriseBois made some difficult and unpopular decisions that will change the team they’ve grown to love. The most notable being that he did not re-sign captain Steven Stamkos , after clearing cap space by trading their young defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to Utah.

“At the end of the day, we need to make decisions that are in the best interest of the organization. And when I say that, I mean the best interests of us remaining competitive and chasing championships and having on-ice success. And that’s what I feel like I did this week,” BriseBois said.

Weeks prior to the chaos of free agency, I spoke with both Stamkos and Sergachev about their future hall of fame goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy.

It’s been almost a full year since the Lightning announced at training camp that Vasilevskiy would miss the start of the 2023-24 season after undergoing a microdiscectomy to address a lumbar disk herniation. Vasilevskiy returned to the ice after 20 games, playing in 52 of the remaining 62 games of the season. That was only eight fewer than the season before.

“Whenever you're at the top of your profession like Vasy is in terms of the goaltending world, and you have an adverse moment like that, especially for a guy so competitive.. He's so driven and he expects things to feel great and he goes through his stuff… it's tough,” said Stamkos.

“It probably was frustrating for Vasy at the beginning to not move or feel the way he was accustomed to, but if there's a guy you don't have to worry about, it's him with the preparation and work that he puts in off the ice and the way he takes care of his body.”

Your goalie should be the last line of defense, and the truth is, the Lightning struggled defensively for a portion of the season. After re-acquiring Ryan McDonagh in May, BriseBois indicated that one of his main goals was to be a stronger defensive team, which would in turn alleviate the workload that Vasilevskiy has to take on each night.

“I think Vasy was good right away. As soon as he came back from the injury, we weren't playing to the standard,” said Sergachev.

“I think he was making timely saves. You could see the progression of the team and the progression of Vasy. He was doing everything he could to stop pucks and sometimes, we were letting too many chances against. He missed the whole summer of training, but I don’t think it’s on him. He was being modest.”

Sergachev was right, the Lightning made changes to the defense, and from the outside looking in, they seemed to initially struggle with it.

“There's a lot of things that go on in a team. It’s a big mechanism and everything has to work together. I think guys went in and got comfortable playing, so that's what happened. I’m proud of them.”

They also dealt with injuries on the blue line throughout the entirety of the season, often having to call players up from AHL Syracuse, and shift others from the right side to the left. A positive in doing so is that the Lightning found young talent in defenseman Emil Lilleberg, who they just signed to a to a two-year contract extension.

Through all of the adversity, Vasilevskiy started to show signs of his old self during the Lightning’s strong second-half of the season.

“A lot of people just expect that when you're coming off a surgery that it's going to be easy, and it's really hard. It takes time no matter how good you are,” said Stamkos.

“He is who he is because he's performed well in big moments. That's what he expects of himself, and that's why we're happy he's on our team.”

With both Stamkos and Sergachev now moving on with different teams, the Lightning will have to pick up the pieces and build the team they want in front of Vasilevskiy. As we saw with the Florida Panthers, defense does in fact win championships. BriseBois is banking on J.J. Moser filling in Sergachev’s spot as a top-four defenseman, as well as Jake Guentzel stepping into the top line as a strong two-way player.

That’s a lot of risk with an uncertain amount of reward, but if it works out, BriseBois did what he was ultimately hired to do, which is win.