Announcing that the Tampa Bay Lightning’s cap problems have been solved should have been a joyous occasion for GM Julien BriseBois; it turned out to be anything but that. As originally reported by Elliotte Friedman, BriseBois shared today that forward Nikita Kucherov will miss the entire 2020-21 regular season with a hip ailment that will require surgery.
GM Julien BriseBois on Nikita Kucherov during today’s availability: “Unfortunately, [he] has a hip injury that will require surgery.... that means he will not be available to play this upcoming regular season.…
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 23, 2020
While it’s true that the LTIR relief provided by Kucherov’s injury will allow the Bolts to slide under the salary cap without much issue, the on-ice loss is significant. Kucherov is one of the game’s brightest stars, having compiled three straight 100-point-pace seasons. To suggest that the Lightning are manufacturing this cap relief in an untoward way by willingly sitting their best player is, quite frankly, ridiculous. There isn’t a team in the league that would take any combination of Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev, and Erik Cernak over Kucherov – and that’s not an indictment of the first three lifted at all.
The sliver of hope to come from BriseBois’ availability is that Kucherov is expected to be healthy in advance of the postseason, when cap rules don’t apply. Getting back up to game speed will take some time, but Kucherov at half-speed is still better than the vast majority of players in the league and on this Lightning team.
From a big picture perspective, the immediate consequence of this news is that the team is reportedly right on the verge of inking Cirelli to a contract extension. As the last member of the “big three… restricted free agents needing a new pact, Cirelli looked poised for a massive payday based on his regular season play, before sputtering a little bit in the playoffs. Nothing is confirmed, but expectations for him on a bridge deal seem to be in the $3.5-4M range. If the term is longer that equation changes, though it’s unlikely that the team could afford to make a move in that direction.
With this, the Lightning roster that ended last season with the Stanley Cup will look very similar to the one that plays out this year. Even without Kucherov for the regular season, this Bolts team should be in a position to make the playoffs and give repeating a shot. Let the games begin.
As always, thanks for reading.