BRANDON, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper made it clear that the Lightning will be without a “luxury” with Russian goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy expected to miss the first two months of the NHL season after undergoing back surgery.

But Cooper has confidence the perennial Stanley Cup contender can rise to the challenge.

“Let’s be honest, we sit here and try and make the situation a little more rosy,” Cooper said Friday. “It’s not ideal, no question. Vasy is a big part of our team, but we do have other guys in the organization. Guys looking to get a chance. Here it is.”

Vasilevskiy, 29, had a microdiscectomy Thursday to address a lumbar disk herniation. The recovery could sideline him for 25 or more games.

Should the Lightning opt to stay in-house, they have three goalies under contract.

Tampa Bay signed journeyman Jonas Johansson, 11-13-4 in parts of four seasons with Buffalo, Florida and Colorado, to a two-year, $1.55 million contract to be Vasilevskiy’s backup.

Matt Tomkins, Canada’s 2022 Olympic starter who has never played in the NHL, spent the previous two seasons in Sweden and had a strong preseason debut against Nashville. Hugo Alnefelt, 22, was with Tampa Bay’s AHL Syracuse minor league team last season.

“Does it hurt not not having one of your core players? For sure,” Cooper said. “But it’s also an opportunity for others. It’s an opportunity for us to get better as a team. When there’s a little bit of adversity, maybe some good could come from it down the road.”

Tampa Bay was knocked out of last season’s playoffs in the first round by Toronto following three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final.

Vasilevskiy won the Vezina Trophy in 2019 as the league’s top netminder and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2021 as playoff MVP.

“Guys are going to have to step up,” Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. “This team has always dealt with adversity pretty well in terms of guys being injured and other guys stepping up. We’ll just have to hold the fort there until ‘Big Cat’ is back.”

No one played more hockey from August 2020 through the end of the playoffs last season than Vasilevskiy, who was on the ice for just over 14,769 minutes of game action.

“I want everybody just to be clear on this, this isn’t the end of Vasy’s season," Cooper said. “He will be back. And hopefully knowing him, it will be sooner than later. He’ll be a refreshed goalie.”

Jessica Campbell grew up wanting to play in the NHL.

Now she’s finding a place for herself in hockey’s top men’s league — and it’s behind the bench.

The Coachella Valley Firebirds assistant is in a position to make it as a coach, something she couldn’t have imagined even a few years ago.

“I didn’t imagine this path for me. I didn’t see it,” she told The Canadian Press. “Quite frankly there was no visibility and there weren’t other females doing this work, and so I didn’t know it was possible.”

Last year, the 31-year-old from Saskatchewan became the first female full-time coach in the American Hockey League.

On Monday, she stood behind an NHL bench for the Seattle Kraken in a preseason game against the Calgary Flames.

After getting a taste of life in the NHL, she’s intent on making it a full-time gig.

“It’s motivating, it’s inspiring,” said Campbell of her experience on an NHL bench. “The other night was no different, being among the team, within the staff — and in that, it just showed me this is where I could get to.”

Campbell joined a suddenly growing list of female coaches to take an NHL bench a day after Kori Cheverie did so with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Cheverie, recently hired as head coach of Montreal’s Professional Women’s Hockey League team, served as a guest coach for the Penguins in a preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.

Tennis legend and activist Billie Jean King, who’s also on the board of directors for the newly-formed women’s professional league, applauded Campbell and Cheverie on social media for “making history.”

Cheverie is hoping their NHL appearances will help break down barriers for women in hockey.

“It’s definitely something that will continue to put female coaches on the map,” she said. “We’re coaches at the end of the day, we study the game, we watch the video, we coach the players, we understand the game, we’ve played it. The only thing that really separates us is male and female.”

WILD: Minnesota signed right wing Mats Zuccarello to a two-year, $8.25 million contract extension. The deal solidifies the Wild's top line beyond this season. The 36-year-old Zuccarello has three 20-goal seasons in 13 years in the NHL. Two of them were with the Wild over the last two seasons. The Norway native had 22 goals and a team-leading 45 assists in 2022-23. He averaged a career-high 20:12 average ice time per game.

SENATORS: Ottawa hired Steve Staios as president of hockey operations. The retired defenseman joins the team under new owner Michael Andlauer. Staios served as hockey operations special adviser for the Edmonton Oilers. He resigned from that job to take over in Ottawa. Pierre Dorion remains the Senators' general manager and is going into his eighth NHL season in the role.