Confirmed Signing with Link: [TBL] Lightning re-sign Nikita Kucherov (3 years, $4.766M AAV)

[These Are The Days]

From a ******** DRW fan our backup goalie makes more than that. Conspirators believe Holland is on his way out sooner than later, Yzerman would likely be the first to be offered the job, do you think he would leave TB?

Absolutely not. When Jeff Vinik bought the Lightning he said the first thing he was going to do was hire a COO, CEO and a few other upper management staff and then a GM last who would then hire a coach. A short time later he had a press conference announcing the hiring of Yzerman and the first words out of Vinik's mouth was that he was contradicting himself and said he had to make the move to get Yzerman while he was available and wanted to be aggressive in doing so because he embodied the vision Vinik had for the team and this was before he hired anyone else.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Perhaps one of the best things about this deal is that we dont have to get rid of Bishop or a defenseman. SY is king!!

 

[Caeldan]

Gosh people on here assuming Kucherov will get like 7x7 or 8x6 type money in his next contract...

Three years is a long time. If he slumps, GMs aren't going to remember his last two seasons/playoffs.

Well the contract guarantees his QO is going to be north of 6M basically.
And it's technically the contract after when he's a UFA where he's probably getting paid unless TB locks him up for 7 or 8 after this one expires (and most people here seem to be expecting just a single year deal in the next contract outside of TB fans)

 

[DFC]

Gosh people on here assuming Kucherov will get like 7x7 or 8x6 type money in his next contract...

Three years is a long time. If he slumps, GMs aren't going to remember his last two seasons/playoffs.

This is not the guy I'd bet on having a three year slump. Kind of has the look of a player who's just scratched the surface.

 

[Hictor Vedman*]

From a ******** DRW fan our backup goalie makes more than that. Conspirators believe Holland is on his way out sooner than later, Yzerman would likely be the first to be offered the job, do you think he would leave TB?

You can't offer someone a job to someone that already has a job, somewhere else.

Next.

 

[Mickey Marner]

No ****in way. How does Killorn get a 30 mil contract and Kucherov gets 15 at <5 AAV. Craziness. Yzerman is shrewd as hell.

 

[Mikeaveli]

Lol I don't even get surprised at Yzerman's biblicality at this point

 

[ponder]

Wow, and he's still an RFA at the end. This is obviously a crazy steal for the Lightning, but it's TERRIBLE for Kucherov. Yzerman seems to play extreme hardball with all of his free agents, more so than any other GM in the league, you have to wonder if it comes back to bite him? Will Kucherov be bitter about being so severely underpaid, and look to leave ASAP once he becomes a UFA? He's one of the top wingers in the league, and being paid like a middle-6 player. He's making less than Filppula and Callahan, and more-or-less the same as Killorn, Garrison and Stralman, while being massively better than any of those guys.

I tend to think that you want guys signed to solid deals, but not brutally bad deals for them, even if you can more or less force it on them when they're RFAs. Just a gut feel though, we'll see how it actually plays out in practice.

 

[Seanaconda]

Wow, and he's still an RFA at the end. This is obviously a crazy steal for the Lightning, but it's TERRIBLE for Kucherov. Yzerman seems to play extreme hardball with all of his free agents, more so than any other GM in the league, you have to wonder if it comes back to bite him? Will Kucherov be bitter about being so severely underpaid, and look to leave ASAP once he becomes a UFA? He's one of the top wingers in the league, and being paid like a middle-6 player. He's making less than Filppula and Callahan, and more-or-less the same as Killorn, Garrison and Stralman, while being massively better than any of those guys.

I tend to think that you want guys signed to solid deals, but not brutally bad deals for them, even if you can more or less force it on them when they're RFAs. Just a gut feel though, we'll see how it actually plays out in practice.

He will be able to file for arbitration when he's done and then finish that year and be a ufa if Tampa doesn't wanna pay him then

 

[Sky04]

He will be able to file for arbitration when he's done and then finish that year and be a ufa if Tampa doesn't wanna pay him then

Clueless, Tampa will pay him when they have more cap space.

 

[umwoz]

Immediately one of the best contracts in the league. In 3 years they can pay him Bishop's vacant cap hit.

 

[kp61c]

still can't believe how little selfrespect kuch has. just disgusting numbers, jesus. the guy should apply for american citizenship and hope he won't break a leg or get a concussion that will put an end to his career.

 

[RegularSznAllStars]

still can't believe how little selfrespect kuch has. just disgusting numbers, jesus. the guy should apply for american citizenship and hope he won't break a leg or get a concussion that will put an end to his career.

I know right!? What is the poor guy gonna do if he has to live on 14 million for the rest of his life?!

 

[These Are The Days]

Wow, and he's still an RFA at the end. This is obviously a crazy steal for the Lightning, but it's TERRIBLE for Kucherov. Yzerman seems to play extreme hardball with all of his free agents, more so than any other GM in the league, you have to wonder if it comes back to bite him? Will Kucherov be bitter about being so severely underpaid, and look to leave ASAP once he becomes a UFA? He's one of the top wingers in the league, and being paid like a middle-6 player. He's making less than Filppula and Callahan, and more-or-less the same as Killorn, Garrison and Stralman, while being massively better than any of those guys.

I tend to think that you want guys signed to solid deals, but not brutally bad deals for them, even if you can more or less force it on them when they're RFAs. Just a gut feel though, we'll see how it actually plays out in practice.

Hardball more than anyone else? Yeah definitely. But so much of roster has taken a cut in re-signing, not just Kucherov. I could go on at length about how everyone settled for less but few of us Lightning fans are surprised that Kucherov took a discount after all. We figured he would take a Forsberg type of deal and even that would've been a discount for what he is really worth. Our surprise is the fact that it was for easily $2 million less than what he deserved.

As for bitter feelings, Kucherov went public saying that he never wanted to play anywhere else but here. If he wanted to pack up and go to Russia he could have. No one forced him into this deal, it's a choice he made on his own. Taking less to keep everyone together is a team culture phenomenon that was started literally overnight when Stamkos shocked the world by coming back and it is highly unlikely to go away soon. In about a year's time don't be shocked if Johnson, Palat and Drouin all sign for something similar to the same figure.

In 3 years Kucherov will be rewarded for his service. But don't be surprised if it's a long term deal but with an AAV for less than what he's worth again.

 

[FinnLightning26]

still can't believe how little selfrespect kuch has. just disgusting numbers, jesus. the guy should apply for american citizenship and hope he won't break a leg or get a concussion that will put an end to his career.

Why are you so obsessed with what Kucherov makes? Should he have left his NHL career behind and return home to make as much money as possible?

 

[tjs*]

Hardball more than anyone else? Yeah definitely. But so much of roster has taken a cut in re-signing, not just Kucherov. I could go on at length about how everyone settled for less but few of us Lightning fans are surprised that Kucherov took a discount after all. We figured he would take a Forsberg type of deal and even that would've been a discount for what he is really worth. Our surprise is the fact that it was for easily $2 million less than what he deserved.

As for bitter feelings, Kucherov went public saying that he never wanted to play anywhere else but here. If he wanted to pack up and go to Russia he could have. No one forced him into this deal, it's a choice he made on his own. Taking less to keep everyone together is a team culture phenomenon that was started literally overnight when Stamkos shocked the world by coming back and it is highly unlikely to go away soon. In about a year's time don't be shocked if Johnson, Palat and Drouin all sign for something similar to the same figure.

In 3 years Kucherov will be rewarded for his service. But don't be surprised if it's a long term deal but with an AAV for less than what he's worth again.

Kucherov and maybe Hedman are the only ones who left any money on the table; Stamkos and Killorn weren't going to get better deals from anybody else. I will be completely shocked if Drouin signs anywhere near that cheaply, and even Johnson and Palat will likely be looking for more than that considering they've already had their bridge deals - they'll be looking to cash in to at least some extent.

 

[sayheykid]

still can't believe how little selfrespect kuch has. just disgusting numbers, jesus.

That's true. I've always heard that people who do things strictly for money have the most self-respect of all.

 

[These Are The Days]

Kucherov and maybe Hedman are the only ones who left any money on the table; Stamkos and Killorn weren't going to get better deals from anybody else. I will be completely shocked if Drouin signs anywhere near that cheaply, and even Johnson and Palat will likely be looking for more than that considering they've already had their bridge deals - they'll be looking to cash in to at least some extent.

I think you're right about most of that. However, I did some quick number crunching and providing that it did it correctly it turns out if you trade Filppula and add up the salary space you've got roughly $26.4 million and change. If you sign Drouin, Palat and Johnson to what Kucherov just did it leaves you with a good $14.3 million to get a deal done with Boyle, Bishop, Koekkoek, Sustr and Nesterov. With the VERY strong possibility of losing any of Coburn, Garrison and Killorn to expansion that $14.3 million could go up another $3.7 million to $4.6 million.

In no universe do I expect all of Drouin, Kucherov, Johnson and Palat to all have identical contracts but if they did it would be the greatest orchestration of cap mastery ever performed because it could keep pretty much the whole team together past next year. That includes possibly Bishop.

 

[These Are The Days]

That's true. I've always heard that people who things strictly for money have the most self-respect of all.

Whatever happened to great men like Alexei Yashin? Kids these days have lost their way

 

[sayheykid]

no, i just can't stand injustice and call a spade a spade. if u are getting bend over a barrel, u are getting bend over a barrel.

"Injustice" seems more than a little melodramatic. He isn't being bent over anything. He's an RFA, and as such his options are somewhat limited. As long as he continues to perform, he'll get his massive payday soon enough.

[MOD]

 

[These Are The Days]

no, i just can't stand injustice and call a spade a spade. if u are getting bend over a barrel, u are getting bend over a barrel. [MOD]

When Kucherov comes back to Tampa under his own free will to sign a deal worth millions less than what he should have gotten instead of leaving to play in the KHL for any team he wanted for almost any contract he wanted it's called choice, not injustice. No one forced him to take this deal. Everything will be made right when he signs with us again.

When you play for a team that is trying to win a championship, there's an understanding that money will be very tight at certain times. This is one of those times.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Tampa didn't have enough cap-space to give Kucherov a long term contract without hampering their cup chances on the short term. Kuch understood this and took an unselfish decision for the team. His move should be praised all-around if anything. kp61c is having an agenda with Nikita because the Russian kid loves North America's lifestyle and consider it his second country.

 

[Caeldan]

no, i just can't stand injustice and call a spade a spade. if u are getting bend over a barrel, u are getting bend over a barrel. and it doesn't matter how many fig leaves you apologist from tampa heap over to hide this fact.[MOD]

Injustice is definitely not the correct word here.
4.77M for 3 RFA years is actually a relatively reasonable number.
Over the long term (barring sudden unexpected issues that you can't count on and are just as likely to occur as huge windfalls therefore washing out the risk vs reward factor) he will come out ahead because of increased HRR thanks to expansion, and the fact that he allowed the team he's playing for to be competitive over the next 3 years. Being a UFA in a situation with a newly inflated salary cap, and on a team that will allow him to put up some good numbers is a much more desirable situation than being locked down for 7 or 8 years in a period where the cap has plateaued for various reasons and teams are constantly looking for ways to keep their cap number down due to uncertainty for next year.

So really it's a win-win for both sides, short term its a bigger win for Tampa but it looks like Kuch is playing the long game in which case he'll end up much further ahead.

 

[tjs*]

I think you're right about most of that. However, I did some quick number crunching and providing that it did it correctly it turns out if you trade Filppula and add up the salary space you've got roughly $26.4 million and change. If you sign Drouin, Palat and Johnson to what Kucherov just did it leaves you with a good $14.3 million to get a deal done with Boyle, Bishop, Koekkoek, Sustr and Nesterov. With the VERY strong possibility of losing any of Coburn, Garrison and Killorn to expansion that $14.3 million could go up another $3.7 million to $4.6 million.

In no universe do I expect all of Drouin, Kucherov, Johnson and Palat to all have identical contracts but if they did it would be the greatest orchestration of cap mastery ever performed because it could keep pretty much the whole team together past next year. That includes possibly Bishop.

You may want to recheck those numbers. Cap Friendly is showing us currently with $13.1M free for 2017 with nine forwards, four defensemen, and one goalie signed and Johnson, Palat, Drouin, Boyle, Sustr, Koekkoek, Nesterov, and Bishop (or the replacements for some of them) needing to be signed to get us to 13F/7D/2G. That doesn't include a cap increase, but there's no guarantee that it will increase and that figure also doesn't include any bonus overage we might have. Even if we somehow moved Flip's entire contract without retention that would still only put us at $18.1M free.

 

[1mjp]

Well the contract guarantees his QO is going to be north of 6M basically.
And it's technically the contract after when he's a UFA where he's probably getting paid unless TB locks him up for 7 or 8 after this one expires (and most people here seem to be expecting just a single year deal in the next contract outside of TB fans)

Good point, I didn't think of the qualifying offer. However, if for whatever reason, his next contract is right at that floor (like 6x6) then he's forfeited quite a lot in this bridge.