The two-time Hart Trophy winner and two-time Stanley Cup champion is in the final season of an eight-year, $76 million contract ($9.5 million average annual value) he signed July 10, 2018. He has been eligible to sign a new deal 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 at 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 will sit here and tell you nothing has changed in what our goals are this year just, maybe, the context of how it is going to go about,” 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 be with the group that loves him and the group he loves.
“What I don’t want to get skewed in all of this is if Kuch turns the puck over or the play does not go exactly his way and he shows frustration or, at some point, the coach who is coaching him is showing frustration with him or somebody else on the team and, then, everybody says, ‘Oh my God. He wants out.’ That will not be the case. Jon Cooper will coach the team the way Jon Cooper has always coached the team and Kuch is going to play like the superstar he is and the way he has for a decade and a half and that is how it is going to continue. All the rest of it is outside noise and, for Kuch internally, what happens after our season is over, that’s Kuch’s right and he has earned that right for whatever happens. For us, it probably made the team stronger.”
Before the season, BriseBois sounded confident the sides could eventually reach a new deal.
“Throughout these contract negotiations, both parties I know would prefer to have a deal today to put that behind us,” BriseBois said on Sept. 16. “We haven’t been able to do that. I’m still in touch with his agent to keep the lines of communication open with the goal being to get Nikita signed to a contract that will keep him in Tampa many years to come.”
Kucherov has 1,139 points (405 goals, 734 assists) in 891 games over 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. It was eliminated in the Eastern Conference First Round by the Montreal Canadiens in seven games last season and haven’t won a playoff series since defeating the New York Rangers in the conference final in 2022.
Last season, Kucherov was second in the NHL with 130 points (44 goals, 86 assists) in 76 games and won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP for the second time (2019).
Kucherov reached the 100-point mark in each of the past four seasons, tied for the second-longest active streak in the NHL (Connor McDavid, six). He also is 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.