Andrei Vasilevskiy returned to practice with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday and said he'll have a better idea in a couple of weeks when he'll be able to make his season debut.
The 29-year-old goalie has been out after having microdiscectomy surgery to address a lumbar disk herniation Sept. 28. The initial timeline was 8-10 weeks.
"We'll see. We're still about two weeks away from eight weeks from that surgery, so when we hit that eight-week mark, we'll go from there," Vasilevskiy said.
Last week, Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Vasilevskiy could make his season debut before December.
"He is making great progress," Cooper said. "I guess that Thanksgiving time to Dec. 1 we should hope that he is back."
Vasilevskiy took responsibility for his disk issue and explained it was "not hockey related, more gym related."
"It was just such a silly injury and way avoidable," Vasilevskiy said. "Same as my first surgery, 6-7 years ago, it was after a hard workout after … all this body-building stuff. I wasn't smart about pushing myself too hard."
He joked that he plans to spend more time on the ice moving forward and less in the weight room.
The Lightning (6-5-4) are tied with the Montreal Canadiens for fifth in the Atlantic Division. They have lost two in a row, are 2-3-1 in November and visit the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; BSSUN, BSMW, TVAS).
Jonas Johansson hast started 12 games in Vasilevskiy's absence. The 28-year-old goalie is 5-3-4 with a 3.42 goals-against average, .891 save percentage and two shutouts.
"He's been great," Vasilevskiy said. "I thought he's been rock solid. We're right there in that [playoff] race, so he was a big part of it, for sure."
Vasilevskiy started 60 games last season and was 34-22-4 with a 2.65 GAA, .915 save percentage and four shutouts. He was selected to his fifth NHL All-Star Game.
The two-time Stanley Cup champion won the Vezina Trophy voted as the top NHL goalie in 2018-19 and Conn Smythe Trophy as Stanley Cup Playoff MVP in 2020-21.
