Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov to return when team no longer has to worry about cap
According to Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois, star forward Nikita Kucherov is on schedule to return to the lineup as soon as the playoffs begin.
Kucherov has missed the entire season thus far after undergoing hip surgery on December 29th. The team also placed him on long-term injured reserve to help alleviate salary cap issues.
"I fully expect that he'll be able to contribute come playoff time and hopefully add a little oomph to our team," BriseBois said. "I don't know there is anything that any team can do at the [NHL Trade] Deadline [April 12] that would be as impactful as adding Nikita Kucherov to our group."
"We went into this season knowing that probably our only addition this year would be Nikita coming back for us during the playoffs," BriseBois said. "Hopefully we can do a good job securing a playoff spot."
Kucherov began skating earlier this week, and is just beginning his rehab process according to BriseBois.
"He's following the schedule very methodically, following the protocol and working hard with our therapists to get his range of motion back, get his strength back," BriseBois said. "Now he's skating so it's getting those muscles to start firing up again. It is a process. It's a long rehab. It's a significant injury. But many hockey players have gone through it, including some of our players in years past, Brayden Point and Yanni Gourde to mention two of them. As of now everything indicates that he is right on track and he'll make a full recovery. When I see him every now and then his spirits are high and he's itching to get back playing again and ramping up what he's allowed to do."
Currently, the Tampa Bay Lightning sit at $98.5 million as their projected salary cap hit, with just over $17 million coming from players on long-term injured reserve. Many will probably not be happy with the Lightning come playoff time, and claim they're trying to circumvent the cap. As soon as the Stanley Cup playoffs begin, the salary cap become null and void.
The Chicago Blackhawks did something similar at the start of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs. Patrick Kane returned from injury and was removed from LTIR on the first day of the playoffs, and the Blackhawks as a whole were fielding a team with just over $74 million as their cap hit when the salary cap that season was $69 million.
Getting a player of Kucherov's caliber back in time for the playoffs will be great for the Lightning. He played a crucial role in Tampa Bay winning their second Stanley Cup in franchise history. In 25 playoff games, he led the Lightning with 34 points (7 G, 27 A).
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Conor Garland | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Nick Schmaltz | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jake Debrusk | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack McBain | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mikhail Sergachev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jayden Struble | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Cooley | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Christian Dvorak | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Barrett Hayton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Quinn Hughes | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 1 | 1 | |
| David Savard | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Pius Suter | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Arber Xhekaj | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Joel Armia | - | - | - | |
| Arshdeep Bains | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 22 | 18 | 4 | - | 36 | |
Devils | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 32 | |
Hurricanes | 21 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 31 | |
Wild | 21 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 30 | |
Golden Knights | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 30 | |
Capitals | 21 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 29 | |
Maple Leafs | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 20 | 13 | 7 | - | 26 | |
Rangers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||