Quote:
Originally Posted by neo45
Tampa is good enough that they’ll be in the same spot standings wise with or without Kucherov
Then he comes back for playoffs well rested. The player may not be all that interested in dealing with a grueling COVID season if he is banged up and just won a cup
Better to lose a great player short term than a different core piece forever. The timing on this announcement is a suspect to say the least.
One of the best players in the league is out long term and we hear about it just before teams have to become cap compliant? Maybe I’m missing something there but that’s a red flag
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I think he had a nagging hip injury for a while. Right now is just a good time to take care of it(because of the cap). It's hard to judge the pain level a person is in, and how much he can endure due to his competitive nature. I think that most likely the issue was well known for a while... The lightning could've waited for another injury to sideline Kucherov in order to explore surgery as an option.
It can also simply be a negotiation tactic, as I am sure a lot of the GM's with cap space would love to take advantage of the Lightning's cap situation.