The Tampa Bay Lightning placed Evgeni Nabokov on waivers this afternoon and recalled Andrei Vasilevskiy from the Syracuse Crunch.

The 20 year old Vasilevskiy went 3-1-0 in four NHL starts earlier this season, and posted a 1.76 goals-against average and .937 save percentage in the process. Contrast that with Nabokov's performance and it's not difficult to see why this decision was made.

According to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston, the Lightning are expected to assign Nabokov to the Crunch should he clear waivers. There's no reason to believe that he will be claimed, but Johnston does speculate that Nabokov may not report to the AHL if and when assigned.

What this move does is show that the team had little faith in its backup goaltender. That doesn't come as a surprise. With Nabokov out the door, the Vasilevskiy era starts now.

As always, thanks for reading.

Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.

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