Rumor: Kucherov long term injury could give lightning the cap space they need

[Guttersniped]

injury to where? sorry I wasn't really following the past couple months. is there a cause to it? what game he might have gotten it? even a video of the hit? i'm googling everywhere and nowhere does it say what kind of injury to it. It's like they are hiding something , absolute hilarious.

I don’t understand what you’re skeptical about here. BriseBois said Kucherov had groin issues in the playoffs and then reported a hip problem on Dec 3rd. He had a torn labrum so they gave him a cortisone shot and tried treatment. It didn’t work, Kucherov can’t skate with the discomfort, so he needs surgery. This is from today’s Athletic article.

Now some of this is new info and it doesn’t get into speculation about how he tore it. I’m not sure why that’s super important to you either, the main thing is he’s having surgery now.

 

[wavaxa2]

injury to where? sorry I wasn't really following the past couple months. is there a cause to it? what game he might have gotten it? even a video of the hit? i'm googling everywhere and nowhere does it say what kind of injury to it. It's like they are hiding something , absolute hilarious.

LOL, you scrolled right past the message that described the exact injury. Quit while you're behind.

 

[Boud]

Luckiest injury for Tampa here. It sucks to lose Kucherov, but this is also a team that won last year and was one of the best teams in the league without Stamkos in the lineup. Replace Stamkos with Kucherov this season, get to the playoffs easily, Kucherov walks-in the playoffs à la Patrick Kane. Gives them a pretty significant advantage come playoff time with that extra 10M on the cap without considering the assets they would've had to pay to make some space under the cap.

 

[coopooter]

Sure they do. Their first couple of years, he’s a local kid to increase interest, and Lightning throws them a sweetener...why wouldn’t they?

it would need a big sweetener.

 

[BeingTheThunder]

it would need a big sweetener.

Not as big of a sweetener as this year. His NTC becomes limited and it’s one less year of term. But yeah, it will take a decent asset.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

As someone who loves to use loopholes/ legal rule bending and throw it in institutions faces, I’ve got a lot of respect for what Tampa is doing right now.

My view on the situation is that Kucherov has a lingering injury that was manageable by the medical staff but would leave him at less then 100% but corrective surgery would bring him to 100%. In regular times he would likely have this surgery as soon as his season ended to ensure the recovery time would overlap the beginning of a new season the least amount possible. However given the weird season upcoming and Tampa’s cap situation it was a perfect opportunity to keep as an ace in the hole. If they could find a way to move out cap then Kucherov would manage for the year and get surgery next off season but if not they could line up a recovery timeline with the end of the season. While it hurts to lose Kuch for the year, management is likely confident that in this temporary division the team is deep enough to comfortably maintain a playoff spot. For Kucherov, he still gets paid, gets to get his injury dealt with during the uncertainty of whatever this covid season is going to be and will still be able to return in time to help the team defend in the playoffs.

They’re even being cheeky about it, making sure to rub it in with their statement saying he’d be out for the regular season, they might of well said he’ll be back game 1 of the playoffs.


This is exactly how I see this situation playing out: they’ll line the surgery up perfectly with a recovery timeline to put him ready to go a few weeks before the playoffs, need be they can say they are being extra cautious, then they’ll send him on a conditioning stint in the AHL for two weeks to get him some playing time before activating him for game 1 of the playoffs when the cap isn’t relevant anymore. In the meantime it buys them a lot of time to sort out their cap issue, they’ll probably feed one of Johnson, Gourde, Killorn some good minutes to try and pump up their stock. Needs and cap room will shift around the league and I’d wager some GM will get suckered into a pump and dump, helping Tampa out of their cap problem for free or possibly even paying them. If not during the regular season then next offseason when there’s a year less on those deals and some of the terms of NTC’s relax and they’ll also have a new team in Seattle and the expansion opening up some more possibilities.

If the league was smart they’d make a rule change right now stating that a player must play a minimum number of regular season games to be eligible for playoffs, something like 3 games in this shortened season but maybe 5 in a regular season. That would throw a wrench in Tampa’s plan.

 

[Guttersniped]

As someone who loves to use loopholes/ legal rule bending and throw it in institutions faces, I’ve got a lot of respect for what Tampa is doing right now.

My view on the situation is that Kucherov has a lingering injury that was manageable by the medical staff but would leave him at less then 100% but corrective surgery would bring him to 100%. In regular times he would likely have this surgery as soon as his season ended to ensure the recovery time would overlap the beginning of a new season the least amount possible. However given the weird season upcoming and Tampa’s cap situation it was a perfect opportunity to keep as an ace in the hole. If they could find a way to move out cap then Kucherov would manage for the year and get surgery next off season but if not they could line up a recovery timeline with the end of the season. While it hurts to lose Kuch for the year, management is likely confident that in this temporary division the team is deep enough to comfortably maintain a playoff spot. For Kucherov, he still gets paid, gets to get his injury dealt with during the uncertainty of whatever this covid season is going to be and will still be able to return in time to help the team defend in the playoffs.

They’re even being cheeky about it, making sure to rub it in with their statement saying he’d be out for the regular season, they might of well said he’ll be back game 1 of the playoffs.


This is exactly how I see this situation playing out: they’ll line the surgery up perfectly with a recovery timeline to put him ready to go a few weeks before the playoffs, need be they can say they are being extra cautious, then they’ll send him on a conditioning stint in the AHL for two weeks to get him some playing time before activating him for game 1 of the playoffs when the cap isn’t relevant anymore. In the meantime it buys them a lot of time to sort out their cap issue, they’ll probably feed one of Johnson, Gourde, Killorn some good minutes to try and pump up their stock. Needs and cap room will shift around the league and I’d wager some GM will get suckered into a pump and dump, helping Tampa out of their cap problem for free or possibly even paying them. If not during the regular season then next offseason when there’s a year less on those deals and some of the terms of NTC’s relax and they’ll also have a new team in Seattle and the expansion opening up some more possibilities.

If the league was smart they’d make a rule change right now stating that a player must play a minimum number of regular season games to be eligible for playoffs, something like 3 games in this shortened season but maybe 5 in a regular season. That would throw a wrench in Tampa’s plan.

That’s quite some fan fic, which includes Tampa’s medical staff having preternatural knowledge of Kucherov’s injury and Kucherov getting surgery that’s both unnecessary and delayed as he puts cap issues ahead of his own health because no one tries treatment before resorting to surgery.

I would point that your requirement would not only prevent previously injured players from returning to play in the playoffs but also prevent prospects from debuting in them like Makar. However the NHL may be less interested in preventing players from being in the playoffs or conspiracy theories than you think.

 

[MikeyMike01]

Faking an injury of a top 5 player to keep Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn? Bold strategy Cotton

Fake? Certainly not.

Embellish an existing injury during a shortened season after astray winning a cup? Very very likely.

 

[ShaneinTpa]

The same league that looked into the Hossa and Robidas retirements? I'm sure Kucherov has an injury. But he would likely play through it in a normal season.

I absolutely disagree with that. Have you ever had a hip injury that hurt enough to get a cortisone shot? Give yourself a shake!

 

[Bevans]

Luckiest injury for Tampa here. It sucks to lose Kucherov, but this is also a team that won last year and was one of the best teams in the league without Stamkos in the lineup. Replace Stamkos with Kucherov this season, get to the playoffs easily, Kucherov walks-in the playoffs à la Patrick Kane. Gives them a pretty significant advantage come playoff time with that extra 10M on the cap without considering the assets they would've had to pay to make some space under the cap.

The only thing luckier than getting to keep Alex Killorn and Jan Rutta on your Stanley Cup roster is losing Kucherov for an entire season!

 

[ShaneinTpa]

No one really believes that Kucherov is the crucial to the Lighning's playoff chances. They're cup favorites. And he wouldn't have to miss the whole season either. Just long enough for Tampa to make the moves they need to make with Jonson, Killorn, Gourde or whoever else. That's what this is about, it's buying a little extra time to move the contracts as Tampa was not able to do so during the offseason.

As far as Kucherov is concerned, he probably does have some minor or nagging injury that he doesn't mind some extra time to heal from. If not for the cap situation, he would play through them, as athletes do all the time. Management probably just told him that it will take them a little more time to make their moves, and the added leverage that the extra time gives them allows them to mitigate the damage to their roster and thus improve their chances of defending their championship.

No one really believes that a perfectly healthy Kucherov is going to sit out the entire year, but it's always easier to argue against a strawman.

This is unbelievably stupid logic!

 

[ShaneinTpa]

The LTIR loophole needs to be closed.
This league is a joke.

Yes, the guy is having surgery. I’m sure they’re cutting Kucherov up so they can circumvent the cap.

 

[NatoGhost]

Luckiest injury for Tampa here. It sucks to lose Kucherov, but this is also a team that won last year and was one of the best teams in the league without Stamkos in the lineup. Replace Stamkos with Kucherov this season, get to the playoffs easily, Kucherov walks-in the playoffs à la Patrick Kane. Gives them a pretty significant advantage come playoff time with that extra 10M on the cap without considering the assets they would've had to pay to make some space under the cap.

If only things worked exactly as drawn up.

Toronto would have won 3-4 cups since the Tavares signing with your logic.

 

[ShaneinTpa]

The downplaying on how much Kuch drives the offense on Tampa...it's insane. Our Power play is pretty much stagnant without him, he's the biggest threat on the team, and a top 5 Winger in the world. No biggie though because herpa derp, got to circumvent the cap with LTIR by losing one of the most dynamic players in the NHL.

All Tampa fans would have much rather given up 2 firsts, prospects, Johnson, Killorn to get out of this like all those stupidly crazy fan proposals than lose Kuch for the season.

As a 25 year season ticket holder for the Tampa Bay lightning I can tell you I agreed with everything you said until the last paragraph. With the cap likely being flat for the next 3 years, I wouldn’t be prepared to give up any more 1R picks, especially not having a second in 2021. Going two and three years without high draft picks will eliminate the option of ELC’s. This will only serve to force teams doing this to sign leftover aging FA’s at bargain prices to keep cap compliant and fill out a roster.

I am not interested in becoming the Los Angeles kings just to win another Stanley Cup. But those who don’t have an investment beyond a flatscreen TV don’t consider the cost of watching 3 to 4 years of shit in exchange for another cup. I don’t know about you but I want to be competitive every year even if we don’t always win it all.

 

[ShaneinTpa]

I don't think it's that odd.

After every playoffs you hear about nagging injuries and a bunch of players get surgery in the offseason. Hell, during the COVID break you heard how many players say they finally feel 100% because they got time to rest. There are always players that have nagging injuries that just do patchwork remedies and ignore it because they want to be competitive, chase their next paycheck, help the team, etc.

Kucherov has checked all the boxes - he has his paycheck, just won a cup, and his team is a playoff lock (especially with that godawful division) so if he has a nagging injury why not take the extra time to heal up to 100%? I don't think most people realize how many injuries players sustain and just battle through it. If you have an option that allows you to sit out and heal and not make your team worse, why not take that opportunity?

Yes, and he is mot just sitting out, he’s having surgery to correct a problem. Even if he could play through that, for how long and with what result?

 

[ShaneinTpa]

Tampa just needs to bite the bullet and trade who they need to in order to be cap compliant. Yeah it going to hit but who cares. They have a cup. I don’t really think there’s a trade they could make rn (to make space) that wouldn’t be worth it to their fans

That is easy to say if your investment in the team doesn’t extend much beyond a nice TV

 

[ShaneinTpa]

I don't see him waiving it, but let's say he opens it to teams that have (or could quickly make) cap space. New Jersey could definitely use another top-4 defenseman (although I don't know how he'd factor into their plans long term). Nashville appears to have space, as well, but I don't know how their pairings would shake out then.

With the Lightning signing Cernak it is very feasible McDonagh gets exposed to Seattle in the expansion draft. It is a certainty if they go 6 forwards and 3 defensemen protection wise

 

[ShaneinTpa]

Im just shock to read that he will be back and ok for the playoffs nhl is such a bush league

"BriseBois a mentionné que si le retour à la forme du Russe se passe bien, il sera en mesure de revenir à temps pour les séries éliminatoires."

If you think the NHL is bush why waste your time here talking about anything related to it? Oh and in any language BriseBois is only using the measuring stick of this surgery to other players’ histories to understand the recovery time puts him out for the regular season. He mentioned nothing about exact playoff availability

 

[ShaneinTpa]

sounds fishy to me. seems like he wants to call it a day after winning the cup, but kinda wants to get paid to sit out so make up an injury so he can be placed on injured reserve, get paid like he's playing meanwhile tampa gets cap relief from it, I call bull shit, as he was literally healthy during his teams cup run.

And of course your opinion has to be right. Since you are so convinced it’s BS now in your know all infinite all mighty wisdom you get to explain why he is having surgery!

 

[Todd1a]

Lightning gonna get Mike Hoffman?

 

[ShaneinTpa]

As someone who loves to use loopholes/ legal rule bending and throw it in institutions faces, I’ve got a lot of respect for what Tampa is doing right now.

My view on the situation is that Kucherov has a lingering injury that was manageable by the medical staff but would leave him at less then 100% but corrective surgery would bring him to 100%. In regular times he would likely have this surgery as soon as his season ended to ensure the recovery time would overlap the beginning of a new season the least amount possible. However given the weird season upcoming and Tampa’s cap situation it was a perfect opportunity to keep as an ace in the hole. If they could find a way to move out cap then Kucherov would manage for the year and get surgery next off season but if not they could line up a recovery timeline with the end of the season. While it hurts to lose Kuch for the year, management is likely confident that in this temporary division the team is deep enough to comfortably maintain a playoff spot. For Kucherov, he still gets paid, gets to get his injury dealt with during the uncertainty of whatever this covid season is going to be and will still be able to return in time to help the team defend in the playoffs.

They’re even being cheeky about it, making sure to rub it in with their statement saying he’d be out for the regular season, they might of well said he’ll be back game 1 of the playoffs.


This is exactly how I see this situation playing out: they’ll line the surgery up perfectly with a recovery timeline to put him ready to go a few weeks before the playoffs, need be they can say they are being extra cautious, then they’ll send him on a conditioning stint in the AHL for two weeks to get him some playing time before activating him for game 1 of the playoffs when the cap isn’t relevant anymore. In the meantime it buys them a lot of time to sort out their cap issue, they’ll probably feed one of Johnson, Gourde, Killorn some good minutes to try and pump up their stock. Needs and cap room will shift around the league and I’d wager some GM will get suckered into a pump and dump, helping Tampa out of their cap problem for free or possibly even paying them. If not during the regular season then next offseason when there’s a year less on those deals and some of the terms of NTC’s relax and they’ll also have a new team in Seattle and the expansion opening up some more possibilities.

If the league was smart they’d make a rule change right now stating that a player must play a minimum number of regular season games to be eligible for playoffs, something like 3 games in this shortened season but maybe 5 in a regular season. That would throw a wrench in Tampa’s plan.

Ah, no. The surgery wasn’t timed. He was trying to get away with rest and then a cortisone shot after he resumed skating and realized something was wrong. With long term rest and rehab some surgeries like this are avoided. It seems you and a lot of other people on here are forgetting that up until just over a week ago it was very uncertain if there was even going to be a 2021 season. So why have the freaking surgery without that knowledge? Take your conspiracy theory somewhere else

 

[ShaneinTpa]

Lightning gonna get Mike Hoffman?

No he wants a multi year deal and he isn’t defensively strong. He is still not signed for the much same reasons TB couldn’t easily move TJ

 

[ShaneinTpa]

Not as big of a sweetener as this year. His NTC becomes limited and it’s one less year of term. But yeah, it will take a decent asset.

Level of return I expect will be proportionate to what kind of play he shows if he still has a spot on the Lightning roster after the Kucherov LTIR situation. A decent season and one less year on that contract could change the dynamic of the return. It could even propel him into a trade deadline acquisition for a team with need that minimizes the sweetener if it doesn’t eliminate it altogether.

If he trends as he has it could lead to a buyout. I suspect he will come to camp with a big enough chip on his shoulder that that doesn’t happen a la the naysayers last year with Shattenkirk

 

[Drew311]

A torn labrum doesn’t sound like a fun injury to play through. It also sounds like an injury that would get worse the more you push it. I really don’t think there’s anything shady going on. If Kucherov comes back just in time for Game 1 of the playoffs, then we’ll have something to discuss.

 

[Sky04]

A torn labrum doesn’t sound like a fun injury to play through. It also sounds like an injury that would get worse the more you push it. I really don’t think there’s anything shady going on. If Kucherov comes back just in time for Game 1 of the playoffs, then we’ll have something to discuss.

What's there to discuss? It's a surgery that typically takes 4-5months to recover from, the playoffs are in a little over 4 months, his projected return date would be either round 1 or 2 of the playoffs.