Nikita Kucherov’s name has suddenly landed in the middle of the NHL rumor mill, and the Colorado Avalanche look like one team that can’t just sit this out.
The Tampa Bay Lightning superstar reportedly told the team he would not be re-signing and had asked for a trade, a jolt that turned a quiet Friday night into a full-blown conversation about where one of the league’s best wingers could wind up. Kucherov may have other destinations that make more sense, but Colorado would be a tempting fit.
That starts with the kind of player he is. Kucherov is a winger, and he’s exactly the sort of high-end talent the Avalanche could use.
A line with Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas would be a nightmare for opponents, and it’s the sort of trio that immediately jumps off the page. He’s also the kind of veteran Jared Bednar could drop into the lineup and let play.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported that Kucherov wants to play with a superstar, and the Avalanche happen to have two of them in MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Kaplan wrote:
“Believe Kucherov has his eyes set on playing with another one of the league’s top superstars and has a few players/teams in mind.
We’ll see what moves the Lightning can, or are willing to, pull off.”
There’s another clear fit, too: Kucherov would give Colorado a major boost on the power play. The Avalanche need help with the man advantage, and he’s one of the league’s best specialists in that area.
Still, this is not a simple pull-off. It’s easy to picture Kucherov being interested in Colorado - the Avalanche are a real Stanley Cup contender, and he would be joining the team that beat Tampa Bay in the 2022 Final. The harder part is figuring out the price.
Colorado does not have a ton to throw into a deal, but one possible package would include Nic Roy and Artturi Lehkonen. Lehkonen could step into the kind of role Kucherov would vacate in Tampa Bay’s top line, while Roy would give the Lightning a top-nine forward who could help make up some of the lost offense.
Then comes the contract issue, which is the whole reason this trade request exists in the first place. Any team that lands Kucherov has to be ready to figure out a new deal, and the Avalanche would be no different.
Moving Lehkonen and Roy would help the books, and the projected cap increase next season could also matter. But Cale Makar’s massive cap hit is set to kick in next season, which complicates the bigger picture.
For this year, though, Colorado would not have much trouble fitting Kucherov’s cap hit. That may be enough for Joe Sakic to at least explore the possibility and sort out the rest later.
Whether the Avalanche become a real factor remains to be seen, but they have already shown up in the same kind of conversations before, including the Dylan Larkin and Connor Hellebuyck sweepstakes.
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