On the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nikita Kucherov …
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Bob McKenzie on TSN 690 on though unlikely, the threat of Nikita Kucherov signing an offer sheet.
“If anybody’s going to get offer-sheeted, you would think this would be the guy,” said NHL Insider Bob McKenzie during a Monday morning radio segment on Montreal’s TSN 690. “Steve Yzerman and the Tampa Bay Lightning are really, really up against it in terms of the cap, and that’s going to continue to be the case. Next year, Drouin is a restricted free agent. Palat and Tyler Johnson are both restricted free agents. So they’ve got three critical players that are coming up for big raises next year. Now you’ve got Kucherov sitting here; who, if you were to give him market value, which would be anywhere between $6-7 million dollars a year on a six or seven or eight-year deal. They’re not in a position to give him that.”
The Lightning would likely match any offer sheet, and it could would create a nightmare scenario for them. If someone signed him to a seven year, $7 to $7.5 million offer sheet, they would owe the Lightning a first, second and third round pick.
Kucherov should get at least $6 million on a new deal, and the Lightning can’t fit that in without making a move. GM Steve Yzerman might make a trade and then sign Kucherov, or they try to get Kucherov to sign a bridge deal.
On Las Vegas …
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: The expansion draft will trade place June 21st, with teams submitting their protected lists to Las Vegas on June 17th. Vegas will select one player from each team. Pierre LeBrun was on TSN 1290 talking about the expansion draft and trades that Vegas can make.
“This time around the NHL is looking at allowing Vegas to start making moves three weeks before, on June 1. I think that will allow Vegas to get approached by teams, and also to approach teams, to make some of those deals that you’re talking about – where a team will say, ‘Don’t take Marc-Andre Fleury, and I’ll give you a third-round pick.’ Etc, etc.
“And the league wants those moves to be transparent, and that’s why I think they’re going to open the window for trades way before the expansion draft – so that all of those moves actually happen before Vegas decides who to select in the expansion draft.”