Lightning Make Moves, but Nikita Kucherov Question Remains
The Lightning changed the roster before the season opening. But Kucherov still has no extension, raising bigger questions about his future in Tampa and the Lightning’s direction.
The Bolts will open the 2026-27 season with a different-looking team.
John Carlson and Ilya Mikheyev are here. Dennis Hildeby has replaced Jonas Johansson as Andrei Vasilevskiy's backup. Darren Raddysh and Nick Paul are gone.
But the biggest question surrounding the Lightning isn’t about any of those players.
It’s Nikita Kucherov.
And I’m not going to sugarcoat it: sadly, we’re even having this conversation again.
Kucherov is entering the final year of his contract. He has been eligible to sign an extension since July 1. General manager Julien BriseBois says the Lightning want to keep him and negotiations with Kucherov’s agent, Dan Milstein, are ongoing.
But there is still no contract.
After what happened with Steven Stamkos, words aren’t enough anymore.
Kucherov has already given Tampa Bay more than enough
Kucherov’s current eight-year, $76 million contract carries a $9.5 million annual cap hit.
That contract became an enormous bargain for Tampa Bay.
Kucherov didn’t simply live up to it. He dramatically outperformed it, helped the Lightning win two Stanley Cups, and established himself as one of the greatest players in franchise history.
And there has been no meaningful sign of decline.
Before last season’s Olympic break, Kucherov was already in magnificent form. He had 80 points before the end of January. He ultimately finished the regular season with 44 goals and 130 points in 76 games and won his second Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player.
Think about that.
This isn’t a fading superstar asking Tampa Bay to pay him for what he did five years ago.
He is the reigning NHL MVP.
Yet the star forward is entering the final year of his contract without an extension or even being close to it.
Yes, negotiations are taking place. That has to be acknowledged. BriseBois has publicly said the organization wants Kucherov in Tampa Bay for “many years to come.” The Lightning have already missed the chance to give Kucherov an eight-year extension. Under the new CBA, the longest deal he can sign with Tampa Bay is now seven years. BriseBois admitted both sides hoped to have a deal done by now, but talks are still ongoing.
But talking about a contract and getting it done are two different things.
Kucherov has already shown his commitment to Tampa Bay. The Lightning benefited enormously from the contract he signed in 2018. His $9.5 million cap hit became remarkable value as salaries for the league’s biggest stars kept climbing.
Now it’s Tampa Bay’s turn to demonstrate the same commitment.
Management certainly found money elsewhere
This is where the situation becomes difficult to ignore.
The Lightning were hardly inactive this summer.
John Carlson received a two-year contract carrying an $8.5 million annual cap hit. Ilya Mikheyev signed a four-year deal at $3.85 million per season. Jeffrey Viel received five years at $2.5 million annually.
Management clearly wasn’t afraid to spend money or make multi-year commitments.
So where is the same urgency with Kucherov?
That’s not an accusation that the Lightning aren’t speaking with him.
But it clearly shows their priorities.
When the reigning MVP is entering the final year of his contract-especially after the organization already watched Steven Stamkos leave in free agency-settling Kucherov’s future should be the biggest piece of business on the table.
Instead, another season is beginning, and we’re still asking the question.
And this isn’t only about Kucherov’s money
That’s the bigger problem.
The concern about Kucherov can’t be separated from the way the Lightning have managed the team around him.
Tampa Bay has now gone four consecutive seasons without advancing beyond the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That’s not opinion. That’s the result.
Meanwhile, pieces of the championship-era roster have kept disappearing.
This summer brought another one.
Darren Raddysh is gone.
They let the “super shot” go
Raddysh didn’t just have a decent season. He exploded.
His “super shot” produced 22 goals. He finished with 70 points in 73 games, set a Lightning franchise record for goals by a defenseman, and established career highs across the board.
Then Tampa Bay traded him to Toronto for a fifth-round pick.
The Lightning responded by signing 36-year-old John Carlson to a two-year, $17 million deal.
Carlson is an accomplished NHL defenseman. He produced 60 points last season. This isn’t about pretending he’s suddenly a bad hockey player.
But questioning the strategy is entirely fair.
A 30-year-old defenseman coming off a 70-point season leaves. Tampa Bay gets a fifth-round pick. Then the Lightning commit $8.5 million annually to a replacement six years older with a great history but questionable preseason form.
It may work.
But after four straight first-round exits, Lightning management should expect those decisions to be scrutinized, not automatically trusted.
Finally moving on from Johansson
At least Tampa Bay finally addressed another problem.
Jonas Johansson never became the reliable long-term No. 2 the Lightning needed behind Vasilevskiy.
The Swedish goaltender had his moments, particularly when Tampa Bay needed him during Vasilevskiy’s absence. Still, the overall fit never became convincing enough for the Lightning to keep going with the same setup.
The direction became obvious when Tampa Bay acquired 24-year-old Dennis Hildeby from Toronto as part of the Nick Paul trade.
Hildeby posted a .914 save percentage in 20 games for Toronto last season, and BriseBois acknowledged during the summer that the Bolts were trying to find Johansson another NHL home.
Now Johansson is gone, and Hildeby appears on the opening roster alongside Vasilevskiy.
But changing the backup goalie doesn’t solve the larger problem.
Where is the next superstar coming from?
This may be the most uncomfortable long-term question surrounding the Lightning.
Look at the prospect pipeline. There are players to like.
Sam O’Reilly has developed into a legitimate prospect. Conor Geekie occasionally shows up.
But let’s not pretend an obvious Superman is coming to save this team. Or even next season.
Where is the next Kucherov?
Where is the prospect who looks ready to become the next franchise-changing superstar?
There isn’t an obvious one right now.
That doesn’t mean one can’t emerge. Nobody should pretend NHL prospects are finished products, and Kucherov himself is perhaps the greatest warning against judging future stars by draft position. Tampa Bay selected him 58th overall in 2011.
But finding another Kucherov in the second round isn’t part of the plan. It was an extraordinary draft success.
And Tampa Bay’s recent draft situation deserves a closer look.
The Lightning entered the 2026 draft without a first-round selection for the fourth consecutive year. Their first pick originally sat at No. 58 before they moved up to No. 52 and selected Russian forward Oleg Kulebiakin. Even Russia-based experts don’t know who this player is.
Trading draft capital made sense when Tampa Bay was chasing Stanley Cups and winning them.
That’s the price contenders pay.
But the calculation changes when you’re no longer reaching the later rounds of the playoffs, and the established core is getting older.
Victor Hedman is 35. Kucherov is 33. Vasilevskiy is 32. Brayden Point is 30.
The clock isn’t theoretical anymore.
At some point, the organization needs another generation ready to take over.
Right now, no obvious superstar successor is waiting for that moment.
That’s what makes the Kucherov situation so frustrating
If Tampa Bay had an extraordinary wave of young talent coming, this conversation may feel different.
It doesn’t.
And that makes taking care of the superstar you already have even more important. You don’t have another Kucherov coming.
You already have Kucherov.
A player who gave this organization enormous value at a $9.5 million cap hit, helped bring two Stanley Cups to Tampa Bay, was in magnificent form heading into last season’s Olympic break, and finished the year as the NHL’s MVP, has continued producing at an extraordinary level while much of the championship roster around him has disappeared.
And somehow, before another season even begins, Lightning fans are once again discussing whether a franchise icon could eventually leave Tampa.
We’ve already watched that movie.
Steven Stamkos was once the player nobody could imagine wearing another NHL jersey. Until he did.
That doesn’t mean Kucherov’s story will end the same way. It would be dishonest to claim that it will. Negotiations are ongoing, and Tampa Bay still has a chance to make it happen.
But after Stamkos, fans have every reason to ask questions.
And I’m not going to sugarcoat it: management hasn’t done enough to earn blind faith that everything will work itself out:
Not after four straight first-round exits, watching key pieces keep leaving, and letting a 70-point defenseman with that “super shot” go.
Not with years of sacrificed draft capital and no obvious superstar successor knocking on the door.
And certainly not while the reigning Hart Trophy winner is entering the final season of his contract.
The Lightning changed the backup goalie and defense, added forwards, spent money, traded players.
But they still haven’t completed the most important move.
The Lightning can tell us they want Nikita Kucherov in Tampa Bay for years to come.
Fine.
Now show it.
Because Kucherov has already done his part.
And if Tampa Bay somehow lets another franchise-defining player follow Steven Stamkos out the door, nobody can say the warning signs weren’t there.
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