The Tampa Bay Lightning announced this morning that defenceman Zach Bogosian will be out four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.

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Zach Bogosian Injured

Bogosian suffered a lower-body injury in practice on Wednesday and will miss at least one month.

Tampa Bay opened their season on Tuesday with a 6-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tampa Bay’s defence was looking suspect on opening night, allowing six goals to an undermanned Penguins squad that was without Crosby and Malkin.

So losing their veteran d-man this early in the season is less than ideal for the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Bogosian logged just over 14 minutes of ice time in the opening night loss and was a minus-two with one shot on goal and three hits.

Bogosian rejoined the Lightning this year after leaving the Leafs in the summer. He signed a three-year contract with the Bolts worth an AAV of $850,000. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound defenceman led the Leafs in penalty minutes last season and was fourth on the team in hits.

Going Forward

With Bogosian out, the Lightning has recalled Andrej Sustr from the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL to take his place. Sustr will line up next to Mikhail Sergachev on the Bolts’ third defensive pairing.

Sustr, a native of the Czech Republic, has spent all but five games of his NHL career with the Tampa Bay organization. He has suited up for 323 NHL games, amassing 10 goals and 63 points to go along with 147 PIMs and minus three plus/minus.

Sustr has spent the last two seasons with the Kunlun Red Star of the KHL.

Lightning coach, Jon Cooper, knows Sustr’s game very well and has the trust in his player. Andrej has a long history with the club and is a towering defenceman who plays a similar style to Bogosian. Sustr will fill in the hole left by Bogosian for the duration of his absence.

Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images