{"id":903703,"date":"2026-11-02T22:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T22:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/903703\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T22:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T22:34:08","slug":"kucherov-says-trade-request-to-lightning-about-poor-communication-respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/903703\/","title":{"rendered":"Kucherov says trade request to Lightning about poor communication, respect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nikita Kucherov<\/a>\u00a0explained Monday why he told the Tampa Bay Lightning he would not re-sign and asked them for a trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was never about the money for me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was more about poor communication and respect. Over the last four months, we only have had two conversations, and (general manager Julien BriseBois) in the end\u00a0made it clear that I\u2019m free to walk on July 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old forward 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 contract since July 1 and can become an unrestricted free agent after the season.<\/p>\n

Kucherov, a second-round pick (No. 58) in the 2011 NHL Draft, has won the Stanley Cup twice (2020, 2021), the Hart Trophy twice as the NHL\u2019s most valuable player (2019, 2026) and the Art Ross Trophy three times as the League\u2019s leading scorer (2019, 2024 and 2025) with the Lightning.<\/p>\n

He became Tampa Bay\u2019s all-time leading scorer Oct. 24, passing Steven Stamkos<\/a>\u00a0(1,137 points) with an assist in a 5-4 overtime loss at the Utah Mammoth. He has 1,142 points (405 goals, 737 assists) in 892 games for the Lightning, including 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in 13 games this season.<\/p>\n

Asked what the Lightning meant to him, he said: \u201cEverything. I got drafted here, played for \u2026This is my 14thyear. (I won) a couple championships, and I\u2019ve met a lot of great people. Everything. My kids grow up here. I\u2019m forever grateful for this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kucherov confirmed he told his teammates he was asking for a trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey heard it from me first,\u201d he said. \u201cThose guys are my family, and this will never change.\u201d<\/p>\n

BriseBois released a statement Friday in which he said the Lightning \u201cunequivocally have no intention of trading Nikita.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lightning (8-3-2), who hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; DSN, The Spot).<\/p>\n

\u201cFor now, I\u2019m part of this team, and I will do anything I can to help my teammates win,\u201d Kucherov said.<\/p>\n

Asked if he saw a way he would remain with the Lightning, Kucherov said, \u201cI make my request, and yeah \u2026\u201d His voice trailed off.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when contracts come up, it\u2019s a completely different situation that has nothing to do with the team,\u201d forward Brandon Hagel<\/a>\u00a0said. \u201cThe focus is playing, and that\u2019s his focus as well, and that other stuff will take care of itself.
\u201cHe didn\u2019t quit on us. He doesn\u2019t give up on us. It\u2019s just the reality of hockey and reality of those types of situations, and that will get dealt with.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikita Kucherov\u00a0explained Monday why he told the Tampa Bay Lightning he would not re-sign and asked them for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-903703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}