Lightning centre Vincent Lecavalier will earn $10 million US in salary and bonuses in the 2010-11 NHL season. (Jimmy Jeong/Canadian Press)

The Tampa Bay Lightning will open training camp Sept. 17 and should have a fully healed Vincent Lecavalier on board.

Lecavalier will have what the NHL team is calling a minor arthroscopic procedure on his left knee Tuesday in Tampa Bay that will require three to four weeks for recovery.

The 30-year-old finished third in Lightning scoring last season with 70 points on 24 goals and 46 assists in 82 games, but his minus-16 rating was second-worst on the squad.

Drafted first overall by Tampa Bay in 1998, Lecavalier has compiled 326 goals and 739 points in 869 NHL regular-season games over 11 seasons.

He will be entering the second season of an 11-year, $85-million-US contract extension signed in July 2008 and earn $10 million in salary and bonuses during the coming campaign.

The Lightning finished 25th in the 30-team NHL with a 34-36-12 record last season under head coach Rick Tocchet, who was fired on April 12 and replaced by Guy Boucher.

Tampa Bay has missed the playoffs three years in a row and hasn't advanced past the first round of the post-season since winning the 2004 Stanley Cup championship.

Lecavalier, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, has said he'd like to return and help the club get back to the playoffs.

"We were in a great position to make it, and we didn't," Lecavalier said. "Nothing you can do now. It's over. You start fresh next year. That's what we'll do."

First-year general manager Steve Yzerman has surrounded Lecavalier with some familiar and fresh bodies, re-signing left-winger Martin St. Louis, acquiring oft-injured forward Simon Gagne and Andrej Meszaros in separate trades and signing free agents Pavel Kubina and Dan Ellis.