- Nikita Kucherov’s agent says he will play through his trade request
- Dan Milstein told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun that Kucherov will play while Milstein handles the business side
- Read below for what the Lightning said and where his contract stands
Nikita Kucherov is not sitting out while his trade request plays out.
His agent, Dan Milstein, told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun on Saturday that Kucherov will play Saturday against the Predators and moving forward while the situation gets resolved.
Milstein was asked whether his client would be in the lineup for the afternoon game in Nashville.
“Of course,” Milstein said. “He loves playing hockey. He will play while I will take care of the business side going forward.”
Puck drop in Nashville is 2 p.m. ET. Kucherov has four goals and 11 assists for 15 points in 12 games, and the Lightning are 8-3-1.
The request itself came out Friday, when Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Kucherov told the team he will not re-sign and wants to be traded. We have the details in our original report.
Tampa Bay answered the same night. General manager Julien BriseBois said the Lightning “unequivocally have no intention of trading Nikita,” as we covered in our BriseBois story.
That leaves a standoff with a star still dressing every night. Kucherov is 33 and in the final year of an eight-year, $76 million contract that carries a $9.5 million cap hit.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan said he has another superstar in mind as a teammate, which we passed along in our Kaplan story. Milstein did not address any of that on Saturday.
The Lightning get their best player on the ice Saturday, and the business side stays with his agent.
