MTPS: Catching Lightning in a Bottle (Again)

Twelve years ago the Rangers were there to pounce when a beloved member of the Tampa Bay Lightning requested a trade after his contract negotiations with the organization fell apart. Could Nikita Kucherov follow in Martin St. Louis' footsteps?

Cards on the table: when I first heard that Nikita Kucherov had demanded a trade after his team and Tampa Bay general manager Julien BriseBois were at a contract impasse, I figured that this was a negotiation ploy and that the two sides would kiss and make up before coming together on a new deal. And they still might. But then I saw this:

Yikes.

Double yikes.

Can we have some real talk for a second? BriseBois threatened Ryan McDonagh to get him to accept a trade to the Nashville Predators, he froze out team captain Steven Stamkos, and now he has apparently told reigning MVP Kucherov to go take his chances on the free-agent market on July 1. There is a cohort of New York Rangers fans who think Chris Drury is the worst general manager in the history of professional sports and that no one wants to play for the Rangers because he "disrespected" Barclay Goodrow, Vitali Kravtsov, and Jacob Trouba. Also, at a time when players across the NHL—Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin, Brady Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes, Kucherov—are demanding trades, players like Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad not only are not demanding trades, they use their no-movement clauses to stay with the Rangers. At the same time, we see players take less money (Vladislav Gavrikov) or accept trades and sign long-term deals (Pavel Dorofeyev) to come here.

It's almost like the narrative surrounding this organization being dysfunctional and that no one wants to be here is bullshit. Who could have guessed?

Anyway, back to Kucherov.

Look, when a player says "it's not about the money," it's usually about the money.

That sounds reasonable, right? I mean sure, until you look at the contracts signed over the last 12 months:

• Cale Makar: $20 million
• Macklin Celebrini: $18.8 million
• Leo Carlsson: $18 million
• Kirill Kaprizov: $17 million
• Connor Bedard: $15 million

Tampa Bay (much like the Florida Panthers) has used its state's tax-free status to get players to take a little less than market value to sign there. It appears that Kucherov has no interest in playing that game. Kucherov is a top-10 player in this league, and he wants a top-10 salary. God bless.

It's an interesting scenario for BriseBois and the Lightning. The Tampa Bay GM came out and quickly made clear that he has no intention of acquiescing to Kucherov's demand, which is fine. At the moment, Kucherov has said that he wants a trade but has not pulled himself out of the lineup the way Hellebuyck or Larkin did. At the same time, the Lightning are a contending team, and BriseBois could simply opt to treat Kucherov as his own rental, try to win a Stanley Cup, and then either trade his UFA rights or let the contract stuff play out. That's what he did with Darren Raddysh last year. Raddysh, though, is not Kucherov.