Bolts to be without Kucherov for regular season

The Tampa Bay Lightning were dealt a considerable blow to their 2021 playoff chances before the puck even drops on the season.
Superstar forward Nikita Kucherov has a hip injury that will require surgery and force him to miss the 2021 regular season Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois told media on a conference call Wednesday. Kucherov will have the surgery next week. BriseBois said it's a realistic hope Kucherov will be ready for the playoffs should the Lightning qualify.

"No one loves playing hockey more than Nikita Kucherov," BriseBois said. "I know how much it pains him that he will be missing the regular season. I also know how hard he's going to work to get back as soon as possible, and now it's our job as a group - players, coaches, management - to get ourselves into the playoffs so that we give Kuch an opportunity to compete this year and help us defend the Stanley Cup championship as we're chasing another one."

Kucherov played through a groin injury during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but BriseBois said he doesn't believe the hip injury is tied to it. Kucherov first reported hip discomfort to the Lightning training staff December 3. After consulting with doctors, the thought was Kucherov could rehab and be ready for the start of the season, which for the Bolts will be January 13 when they host the Chicago Blackhawks at AMALIE Arena.
But the treatment protocol, which included a cortisone injection, didn't improve the injury, and the decision was made to schedule the surgery.
"As things were not progressing positively in this case and as Nikita continued to fight through the discomfort and the pain when he was skating, we got another consult this week with Dr. Kelly out of New York and everyone felt it was the best thing to do to have the surgery now," BriseBois said. "It's a similar surgery to what Brayden Point had not that long ago and Yanni Gourde before that, and we expect Kuch to make a full recovery just like those two players did. Dr. Kelly felt that with this type of injury, the sooner in your career you have the surgery, the better the likelihood is that you will come back just as good if not better than ever."
Kucherov's absence will leave a giant hole in the Lightning lineup. The 27-year-old right wing scored seven goals and recorded 34 points during the Bolts' 25-game postseason run to the Stanley Cup in 2020, setting a Tampa Bay franchise record for assists (27) and scoring in a single postseason. His 27 assists were the fifth-most all-time in National Hockey League history for a playoff season and the most ever by a winger.
Kucherov led the Lightning for goals (33), assists (52) and points (85) during the 2019-20 regular season, the fifth-straight year he paced Tampa Bay for scoring.
In 2018-19, Kucherov recorded 128 points - the most by a NHL player since 1996 - and became just the second Lightning player ever to win the Hart Trophy (NHL MVP as voted by the PHWA), Art Ross Trophy (scoring title) and Ted Lindsay Award (NHL MVP as voted by the players) in the same season, joining Martin St. Louis (note: St. Louis won the Lester B. Pearson award in 2003-04, which was renamed the Ted Lindsay Award in 2010).
"Teams lose high-end players every year. It's part of the challenge of winning at the NHL level," BriseBois said. "The competitive balance is tremendous in our league. It has been for a number of years now. It's a grind to make the playoffs…It's not going to be easy. It wasn't going to be easy even with Kuch in the lineup, and now it's more of a challenge. But from my conversations with a number of our players over the last few days -- although it wasn't official at the time that Kuch was going to be missing the regular season -- the mindset of the players as a whole and the hunger and how excited they are to get a chance to chase another Cup and go back-to-back, which is a really rare feat in our league and quite the accomplishment, I've just been really struck by how positive everyone's mindset is and I like where everyone's head is at right now."
The injury to Kucherov will allow the Lightning to use the long-term injury exemption to bolster their salary cap. As a result, the Lightning are in a position right now to be cap compliant at the start of the season, but BriseBois said their current position doesn't allow for much flexibility.
"I will still be exploring opportunities to unload some salary and create a little more flexibility for us, but at least as of now, I know that worst case we can go into the season, we're going to be cap compliant, we've been able to sign everyone we wanted to have signed and we're going to be able to ice a really competitive hockey team this year and chase another championship," BriseBois said.
The Lightning have already signed restricted free agents Mikhail Sergachev, Erik Cernak, Mathieu Joseph and Alex Volkov and were able to re-sign unrestricted free agent Jan Rutta in the last month. BriseBois said he has the general framework of an agreement in place on the last remaining RFA, Anthony Cirelli, and his signing should be announced in the next day or two.
"Essentially, we have everyone signed that we wanted to have signed prior to the start of the season and now we're working on getting everyone in town that isn't already here so that they can participate in training camp," BriseBois said.
In other news, BriseBois said he expects Lightning captain Steven Stamkos to be healthy and available when the 2021 regular season opens in less than a month. Stamkos missed all of the 2020 postseason except for playing 2:47 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final against Dallas when he scored arguably the most iconic goal in Tampa Bay franchise history.
And BriseBois said Tyler Johnson, who was waived during the offseason but had no takers, will be on the Lightning roster when the Bolts host the Blackhawks on Jan. 13 now that Kucherov's injury alleviates some of Tampa Bay's salary cap concerns. BriseBois said three teams came to him and expressed interest in a trade for Johnson, but once the scale of the pandemic, the damage to teams' revenues and the flat salary cap were realized, those trades never materialized or made sense for the Lightning.
"Tyler Johnson is on my team to start the year," BriseBois said. "I think that's a good thing because Tyler Johnson's a good player. He's going to help us win hockey games, and ultimately that's what I want to do."