The pressure points are piling up in Detroit, Tampa Bay, San Jose and Chicago, and TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston says the next stretch could force some movement.
In Detroit, interim general manager Shawn Horcoff is trying to sort out a few major situations while carrying the added weight of the interim label. Johnston said that dynamic matters when looking at what happens next with Dylan Larkin and Simon Edvinsson.
“It’s not that Horcoff is doing a bad job, it’s that he’s in a spot where he’s auditioning for his job. He wants the full-time role eventually in Detroit and that means there’s extra amount of pressure to get it right.”
Johnston added that Horcoff’s position may be slowing things down in the Larkin case, especially with the former captain and the possibility of a trade involving the 23-year-old defenceman.
When it comes to Larkin, Johnston said the situation is still stuck where it has been. Horcoff has a list of 10 teams to work with, but there hasn’t been a deal good enough to move forward, and Larkin is not expanding that list.
Edvinsson’s situation, meanwhile, has a date circled on the calendar. Johnston said Dec. 1 remains important because the restricted free agent needs a contract by then. That deadline, he said, should add some pressure and make a resolution more likely as the date gets closer.
The Lightning’s situation with Nikita Kucherov has also settled into a strange holding pattern. Johnston said the reaction around the league after Kucherov’s trade request became public last Friday was dramatic, but the expectation now is that this becomes an off-season issue.
“It’s almost as if a bomb went off last Friday when first Kucherov made a trade request, and it became public. Now it’s like everyone wants to return to the shelter and pretend it didn’t happen.”
Johnston said the request was really more about signaling that contract talks are done than about a move happening immediately. Kucherov remains under contract, and Johnston does not expect him to leave the team in the same way Connor Hellebuyck and Dylan Larkin before him did.
For now, the Lightning are saying the right things publicly, and Kucherov’s play has not dipped. He has five assists in the two games since the news broke. Johnston said the sense around the league is that Tampa Bay was serious when it said it is not looking to trade him, and he expects Kucherov to finish the year there.
Out west, the early-season struggles in San Jose and Chicago are already creating urgency.
Johnston said neither the Sharks nor the Blackhawks can afford to be patient, and both clubs are looking for trade solutions. San Jose, he said, is “big-game hunting” and has been heavily involved in the Edvinsson discussions with Detroit. Around the league, some teams believe Edvinsson makes the most sense to land with the Sharks, but those talks have not reached a point where the Red Wings have a deal worth taking.
The Sharks also held a players-only meeting after a tough loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night, and Johnston said the team is looking for help from its front office.
Chicago’s situation is even more severe. The Blackhawks have 12 losses in 16 games to start the season, and Johnston said they have been searching for help up front. He noted that the club believed it would be fighting for a playoff spot this year, but instead it has fallen back into the basement.
Johnston said neither Kyle Davidson in Chicago nor Mike Grier in San Jose can wait much longer as the season moves deeper into its core.
In Other News...
Kucherov Just Turned Tampa Bays Biggest Contract Fight Into Something Bigger
Nikita Kucherov has pushed Tampa Bay into a familiar but uncomfortable place, with a contract standoff now spilling into a trade request. The Lightning stars situation is not framed around money as much as it is about how the relationship has functioned behind the scenes, and that makes it feel bigger than a simple negotiation over dollars and years.
For Tampa Bay, the immediate message from both the general manager and coach has been clear: there is no intention to move him. Still, the gap between what Kucherov is seeking and what the Lightning have put on the table has turned this into one of the teams defining storylines, with most around the league expecting him to stay for now before the long-term question comes back into focus later. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Just Put Vasilevskiys Long-Term Future Under A Brighter Spotlight
Nikita Kucherovs contract situation has already put the Lightning in a tricky spot, and it is now casting a wider shadow over the rest of the roster. With one star already headed toward a potentially messy offseason, Tampa Bay has another major name whose future is suddenly worth watching a little more closely than usual.
Andrei Vasilevskiys camp has made clear he is happy in Tampa Bay, even as his agent noted negotiations can always alter the picture. The Lightning still have one of the leagues premier goalies in place, but with a strong free-agent market ahead, the club may need to navigate another high-stakes conversation if it wants to keep its core intact for the long haul. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Suddenly Face A Kucherov Exit Scenario Fans Never Expected
Nikita Kucherovs future has become one of those rare Lightning storylines that would have sounded far-fetched not long ago. NHL analyst James Mirtle raised the possibility of the Toronto Maple Leafs chasing the Tampa Bay star if he reaches free agency, a scenario that would instantly reshape the conversation around one of the leagues most important players and one of the Lightnings most recognizable faces.
The idea is still more theory than plan, but it underscores how complicated this situation has become. Mirtle pointed out that Toronto could at least explore the fit, even if the financial hurdles and roster limits would make a move difficult to pull off. For Tampa Bay, the bigger issue is simply that a player central to everything the franchise has built is now at the center of a very real exit discussion. [Read more 🡒]