Kucherov is injured.This is silly.
So GM's just need to be more "creative" in convincing their banged-up star players to milk an injury until playoffs come?
This has nothing to do with being creative. Most teams aren't rich enough to survive without a Kucherov for ~50 plus games and still comfortably make the playoffs. And I would think most star players aren't down with sitting out for the playoffs to help their team's salary cap situation. Kucherov just won a stanley cup and has played a ton of hockey, so he probably doesnt mind.
It's a rich team (in terms of their talent and depth) taking advantage of a nuanced situation.
That's why he is not playing.