"He's been nothing short of phenomenal," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "He's been unbelievable in every game. He's obviously contributing offensively, but I think his work all over the ice has been terrific. It's not a fluke that he went on the streak he did. It's not just the skill set he has but it's the work ethic he has as well.
"You watch practices and who's the last guy out there working on stuff? It's him. He always wants to get better. He wants to be the best in the League and right now I don't think there is a player better."
Kucherov has been so good he's accomplishing things previously done by the likes of only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis.
Kucherov got to 70 points in 43 games, the quickest of any player in Lightning history and the first player to get there in his team's first 43 games since Jagr did it in 39 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1999-2000.
Kucherov, with his assist in a 4-0 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, became the 10th player in NHL history to reach 50 assists within his team's first 43 games and the first since Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr and Francis did it in 1995-96.
The other players to do that were Bobby Orr, Denis Savard, Marcel Dionne, Pat LaFontaine and John Cullen.
The rest of the NHL has taken notice.
"He's got everything," Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov said of Kucherov. "He can skate. He can play one on one. At the same time, he's always hungry for the goals. He wants to score the goals. … That's probably what makes him better than some other top guys because he can do whatever he wants on the ice."
Especially lately, said Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron.
"It's kind of insane right now," he said.
It's brilliant.
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis): Nikita Kucherov, Lightning, 68 points (eight first-place votes); Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche, 58 points (four first-place votes); Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers, 44 points (four first-place votes); Mikko Rantanen, Avalanche, 34 points (three first-place votes); Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames, 29; Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres, 15; Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, 11; Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights, 11 (one first-place vote); David Pastrnak, Bruins, seven; Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning, four; John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks, four; Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins, three; Jeff Skinner, Sabres, three; Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets, two; Blake Wheeler, Jets; two; John Tavares, Toronto Maple Leafs, two; Mark Giordano, Flames, one; Morgan Rielly, Maple Leafs, one; Patrice Bergeron, Bruins, one
NHL.com staff writers Tom Gulitti and Amalie Benjamin and NHL.com correspondent Corey Long contributed to this story
