Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli, Zach Bogosian expected to miss start of 2022-23 season

BRANDON — Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois announced Wednesday afternoon that forward Anthony Cirelli and defenseman Zach Bogosian are expected to miss the start of the 2022-23 season recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

BriseBois expects both players to rehab for the next four to six months, adding he anticipates they will return to the lineup in “late November, December-ish.”

“I expect there’s going to be a lot of competition for jobs in training camp,” BriseBois added. “We have players that are pushing for roles and now with an injury up front and injury on the back end, that opens up opportunities for those players to show us they’re ready.”

The injuries only provide temporary salary-cap relief, BriseBois said, because they will return during the season.

Cirelli said the training staff was helpful in making sure he could play after his initial shoulder injury (an AC joint sprain in his left shoulder) during the Eastern Conference final against the Rangers. He played through the Stanley Cup final series against Colorado with a dislocated right shoulder (incurred in Game 4).

“Everyone was kind of dealing with (injuries), the other team was dealing with injuries ... so obviously it sucked, but it’s something I had to deal with,” Cirelli said.

The rehab news came on the same day the Lightning announced eight-year extensions for Cirelli and defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak. The team also signed defenseman Ian Cole and forward Vladislav Namestnikov.

Contact Mari Faiello at mfaiello@tampabay.com. Follow @faiello_mari.

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