The two-time Hart Trophy winner and two-time Stanley Cup champion is in the final season of an eight-year contract worth $76 million (average annual value $9.5 million) that he signed on July 10, 2018. He has been eligible to sign a new contract since July 1 and can become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
The 33-year-old forward became the Lightning’s all-time leading scorer on Oct. 24 with an assist in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth to pass Steven Stamkos (1,137). He has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in 12 games this season for the Lightning (8-3-1), who visit the Nashville Predators on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; The Spot, SCRIPPS).
“I’ll sit here and tell you that nothing has changed in our goals this year, just maybe the context in which it’s going to play out,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said before the game. “Kuch is 100 percent a part of this team. He wants to be a part of this team for this season and he is committed to being with the group that loves him and the group that he loves.
“What I don’t want to distort in this is if Kuch turns the puck over or the play isn’t going exactly his way and he shows frustration or, at some point, the coach coaching him shows frustration with him or someone else on the team and, then, everyone goes, ‘Oh my God. He wants out.’ It won’t. Jon Cooper will coach the team the same way Jon Cooper has always coached it and Kuch is going to play like the superstar he is and the way he has for a decade and a half and that’s how it’s going to continue. Everything else is just outside noise and for Kuch internally, what happens after our season ends is Kuch’s right and he has earned that right no matter what. For us, it probably made the team stronger.”
Before the season, BriseBois seemed confident that the two sides could eventually reach a new deal.
“Throughout these contract negotiations, both parties that I know would prefer to reach an agreement today to put this behind us,” BriseBois said on September 16. “We were unsuccessful in doing so. I am still in contact with his agent to keep the lines of communication open with the goal of getting Nikita signed to a contract that will keep him in Tampa for many years to come.”
Kucherov has 1,139 points (405 goals, 734 assists) in 891 games during his 13 NHL seasons, all with the Lightning. He also has 177 points (54 goals, 123 assists) in 159 Stanley Cup playoff games.
Kucherov helped Tampa Bay win the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021. He was eliminated in the first round of the Eastern Conference by the Montreal Canadiens in seven games last season and has not won a playoff series since beating the New York Rangers in the conference final in 2022.
Last season, Kucherov finished second in the NHL with 130 points (44 goals, 86 assists) in 76 games and won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player for the second time (2019).
Kucherov has reached the 100-point mark in each of the last four seasons, tied for the second-longest active streak in the NHL (Connor McDavid, six). He is also one of five players to record 100 assists in a season, accomplishing the feat in 2023-24 to join Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and McDavid.
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