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Don't Look Too Much Into Kucherov Comments

April 27, 2017, 1:08 PM ET [59 Comments]
John Gove
Calgary Flames Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT


Nikita Kucherov hands-down had the most successful 2016-17 regular season among Lightning players with his career-high 40 goals and 45 assists. However, Kucherov let his frustration with the overall performance of his team throughout the season known on Wednesday in an interview with Sovetsky Sport, a Russian daily sports newspaper.

In his interview, Kucherov took shots at his Lightning teammates, questioning their efforts and claiming that some of their focus was no longer on production after obtaining a pay raise. No specific names were given but you have to imagine that Alex Killorn is one of the players that Kucherov was referencing. In his first year of a new seven-year deal, Killorn did not produce the way the Bolts would have liked, only recording 36 points in 81 games.

In addition, Kucherov called out the coaches, questioning decisions they made after they lost Steven Stamkos for the rest of the season. He claimed that it was incredibly challenging to establish any sort of comfort or chemistry when lines when constantly being altered.

Yes, Kucherov's comments were quite alarming when they first surfaced, especially because he was quite quiet when he addressed the media at the end of the season. However, it would be unwise to look too much into what he said.

Kucherov's choice of words simply came out of frustration. With the team not living up to the expectations put on them by themselves and the entire hockey world, it would be harder to understand if Kucherov was not infuriated with how the season turned out for Tampa Bay. Now to say that these comments came out of frustration does not mean that he didn't mean them. I'm sure he meant a lot of what he said but wishes he did not say it.

As Steve Yzerman said, he is not concerned with Kucherov's desire to be in Tampa and they will straighten all of this out during the offseason. To question whether Kucherov wants out of the Lightning organization would just be foolish at this point.

This circumstance is simply another case of a frustrated competitor expressing his feelings in a not so productive way. It happens all of the time and both Kucherov and the Lightning will move on from this.
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