On Thursday, Tampa Bay announced that forward Joel Vermin underwent successful hand surgery after blocking a shot during Monday’s win over Columbus, and would miss the next 6-8 weeks as a result.
Vermin, 23, opened this season with the Bolts’ AHL affiliate in Syracuse, but was recalled recently due to injuries to a number of key forwards: Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Jonathan Drouin, Cedric Paquette and Erik Condra.
A former standout with Bern of the Swiss League, Vermin had appeared in six games for the Lightning this season, recording one point.
Now that he’s out hurt, the club’s been forced to recall another farmhand from the Crunch: Mike Angelidis, who’s appeared in 10 games for the Bolts over the last four years.
All these injuries have, unsurprisingly, left head coach Jon Cooper with some pretty makeshift lineups. In the aforementioned game against Columbus, Tampa Bay skated the likes of Vermin, Jonathan Marchessault and Mike Blunden.