Lightning's Nikita Kucherov Out for the Season!

The Tampa Bay Lightning have solved their salary cap issues in the worst way possible as it's being reported Nikita Kucherov will undergo hip surgery and miss the season.

So there's $9.5 M in cap savings for the cap-challenged Lightning. Although it comes at the expense of losing your best offensive player. While Kucherov on LTIR will take pressure of BriseBois cap-wise, I still believe he makes another move as well. https://t.co/q6jIkOHIqb
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 23, 2020

Tampa Bay has been busy signing most of their free-agents and now have only Anthony Cirelli left to sign. The team would love to sign Cirelli long-term. Throwing Kucherov onto the LTIR will help relief the pressure and as Pierre LeBrun mentions expect the Lightning to still make a deal sometime soon. Look for either Tyler Johnson or Alex Killorn to be moved.

As for Kucherov, his hip has been bothering him for the course of a year and he's been battling through. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the ice soon.

Photo credit: Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire