Since the end of the 2025-26 season, the NHL has been the pinnacle of rumor reporting. Stars across the league, on both good and bad teams, have been forcing their way out of their current franchises. Some are at the end of their contract terms, and others have a ton of time left on their deals. Dylan Larkin’s situation took a turn this week when he was suspended by the Detroit Red Wings. Connor Hellebuyck was traded to the New Jersey Devils a week ago. Brady Tkachuk forced his way to Florida this offseason. And everyone is still waiting to see what Quinn Hughes does.
Nothing was as shocking as what came out on Friday. As first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Tampa Bay Lightning winger and reigning league MVP Nikita Kucherov has asked for a trade. He will no longer negotiate a contract with the Lightning, and he’s looking to get out.
While all of these other players are worth a ton, none of them (outside Hughes) can be considered a top-five player in this league. Kucherov can change who wins the Stanley Cup this season. He helped the Lightning win two of them.
But he also saw how negotiations go in Tampa. Steven Stamkos was not treated the best on his way out the door. They’ve traded players who they feel no longer work for them. Tampa is a great organization, but sometimes being a great organization means making some hard business decisions. Maybe they weren’t willing to “do business” with Kucherov.
The Devils have been a team, especially in this new era under Sunny Mehta, to do business. However, business with Kucherov is expensive, and the Devils are already working close to a deficit.
The "asks" for Nikita Kucherov make him too expensive for the New Jersey Devils
Let’s start with the trade package. The Lightning won’t want futures. They are trying to win a Stanley Cup right now. They would ask for Nico Hischier, and they’d have every right to do that. Kucherov is in that upper tier. Then, they would demand one or two of Jesper Bratt, Arseny Gritsyuk, and/or Luke Evangelista.
On top of that, the Devils are looking at prospects that are close to NHL-ready. Anton Silaev, Lenni Hameenaho, Shane Lachance, and Matias Vanhanen are on the table, at a minimum. Then, there will be both first-round picks going the other way. It won’t be all of those pieces, obviously, but it will be a painful package. That’s what it costs to get the reigning MVP.
Then, there’s the price of his next contract. The Lightning lost Stamkos because they didn’t want to pay market value. They never want to pay market value. Unfortunately, Kucherov is a market-value type of player.
There’s a chance Kucherov is asking for a Kirill Kaprizov-type deal, or he might even be asking for $20 million per season. The Devils just can’t make that work.
Kucherov would be a great fit on any team and would make the Devils contenders. Sometimes, the price for the risk is not worth it.
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