Coach Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning entered the season with visions of another Stanley Cup dancing in their heads. With Andrei Vasilevskiy shelved, what will the Bolts do to secure a playoff berth?

Coach Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning entered the season with visions of another Stanley Cup dancing in their heads. (The Hockey News Yearbook picked the Bolts second in the Atlantic.)

The only thing dancing in Cooper's cranium these days is a migraine. (Pass the Advil, trainer!)

Not that it's my buddy Jon's fault. Cooper does not need to read tea leaves to tell him that Andrei Vasilevskiy will be hors de combat for who-knows-how-long. Arguably the absence of one of the world's best goalies could cost the Bolts another Stanley.

So, where's the help?

The one guy who just might know the answer is a 28-year-old from Gavle, Sweden. 

And in case you don't walk the streets of Gavle. I'm talking about goalkeeper Jonas Johansson.

Coming out of the bullpen to replace the Great Vasilevskiy might be okay for, say, 20 or 25 games. At least that was GM Julien BriseBois' plan when he signed Double J as a free agent in the off-season.

So, what happens if Johansson is called on to play 50 or 60 games? Then what?

If he's shown to be a failure by the end of October, you can figure that Breezy BriseBois will be looking high and low for someone who can stop flying green peas, if not beach balls.

In Boston, GM Don Sweeney could be on the phone with a "Yoo-hoo, Juls, whaddya think of Linus Ullmark? Hmmmm?" (Silence at the end of the line while Juls thinks.)

Hey, Sweet Sweeney has been grooming Alaska's gift to Beantown, Jeremy Swayman for the Numero Uno netminding role. Last season, Swayman finished with a 2.27 and .920 mark which ain't bad for a lad just starting to get good.

Then again, I know a guy along Causeway Street who believes that now -- not tomorrow; not next week -- is the time to tell Linus Ullmark, "Thanks for the memory, Linus, but you'll like the sheltering palms of Tampa Bay."

My impeccable Lightning sources assure me that BriseBois is not going to make a trade.

Nix to that.

Fair enough; at least for the present, the net belongs to The Goalie From Gavle, and we'll just see how he unfolds -- or, perhaps, just folds, as the case may be.

That said, for the rest of this month, it's Johansson for better or you-know-what.

Rapid's Reaction: Through two games this season, Johansson owns an .889 SV% with a 4.09 GAA. Now, Tampa has looked a tad lost in their own zone at times, which certainly doesn't help the goaltender. He's also faced the fifth-most shots at 5-on-5 play according to Naturalstatrick.com. However, his Goals Saved Above Expected is in the negatives, which is no bueno for a team that, with their offense, just needs their goaltenders, at the very least, to stop the stoppable shots. The question is can Johansson help the Lightning tread water and so far him, along with 29-year-old rookie Matt Tomkins, have not done that through three games. And like Stan said, Boston isn't moving Ullmark...yet.  

Too bad there's no NHL record for "Longest Trade That's Never Happened." It's more than a year since Vancouver revealed that it wanted to unload Connor Garland. GM Patrik Allvin needs a defenseman and also to trim Cap space.

Garland went 17-29-46 last year as the Canucks second right wing. With three years left on his deal -- Cap hit, $5mil -- Connor eschewed his Boston rep Peter Cooney and opted for the big-deal Wasserman Sports agency. Garland's new agent, Judd Muldaver, supposedly is a man of action. Then again, Joltin' Judd may be forced to be a mulling Muldaver.

Heck, we've waited long enough already!

Rapid's Reaction: The 27-year-old has barely played hockey through two games, an average of 9:47 minutes per game. The talented right winger certainly needs a change of scenery and there are many teams that would love to bring him in. With Mathew Barzal moving to left wing, the speedy Garland would actually fit on the top line, if the Islanders don't believe Simon Holmstrom is the answer.  Garland is also a Lou Lamoriello player, a grinding forward with skill, that puts his head down and goes to work. The problem is Garland makes $4.95 million per season so if the Islanders did want him, they would need to send back a few players or one of their starters, or have Vancouver retain cap space, which I doubt they want to do as they seem in no rush to trade the guy. 

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