tbl-Brisebois’ Update On Contract Negotiations Points To Cloudy Future

Summary

The Tampa Bay Lightning open up camp today and the good news is that everyone who is healthy should be on the ice. That can’t be said for every team (cough, Winnipeg , cough). Due to a couple of injuries, there are some questions that need to be answered in terms of the roster, but the biggest organizational question remains the same from July – what is going on with Nikita Kucherov? A small, somewhat consequential deadline passed earlier this week when the new memorandum of understanding between the league and players’ union kicked in on September 16. Under the new terms that extend the CBA, the Lightning can no longer offer Kucherov an eight-year extension. They can still give him more years than any other team, but the cap is now seven. That isn’t as big of a deal for Kucherov as it was for some of the younger players in the league (which is why we saw a flurry of deals over the last couple of day) as it’s unlikely the future All-Star will keep playing for eight more seasons. What it does constrict is the number of years the Lightning could spread a deal out over to lessen the yearly cap hit. Shaving one year off isn’t a huge impediment, but with some other players soon needing extensions, every dollar against the cap counts. One of the other “loopholes” that has been eliminated under the new CBA is deferred payments. Whatever the two sides agree to has to paid out over the life of the deal. For an older player like Kucherov, that might have had some enticement as he could keep cashing large checks even after he stopped playing. The third big difference is the capping of bonus money at 60% of the total value of new contracts. Previously, players could opt to get the majority of their bag in the form of signing or roster bonuses and then play for a minimal salary. The advantage was that they would get paid in bulk up front and the payments were essentially lock-out proof. If there was a work stoppage, they were still getting paid. Under the new layout, they can still get more than half of their money in the form of those bonuses, but it will be slightly more balanced. The changes don’t dramatically affect what Kucherov is going to get paid on his next deal, but they also don’t make the negotiations any easier. Kucherov and general manager Julien BriseBois both spoke with the media, and the most positive thing we can draw from what they said is that the two sides are still talking. At least we’re not at the “tabling conversations until after the season” point yet. For his part Kucherov shrugged off any direct comments about the negotiations, stating that he just wants to focus on playing hockey. So, it was left to Mr. BriseBois to provide an update about the state of negotiations. “Throughout these contract negotiations, both parties I know would prefer to have a deal today to put that behind us. We haven’t been able to do that. I’m still in touch with his agent to keep the lines of communication open with the goal being to get Nikita signed to a contract that will keep him in Tampa many years to come.” He also acknowledged that Kucherov is a unique player coming off of a historic run (most points by a player through their age 30-32 seasons in the history of the NHL), and that there is no expectation that the level of production is going to wane any time soon. Mr. BriseBois then shut down any further talk about negotiations, stating that it would do no good for him to say what the progress looks like at this point. He also warned the press that he wouldn’t be providing regular updates, basically stating that once a decision is made he’ll let them know. Forgive Lightning fans if the general manager’s words raise an eyebrow or two. After all, they’ve heard these words before. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago when Mr. BriseBois uttered this statement about another franchise icon, “The aim is for him to continue to play on a contending Tampa Bay Lightning team going forward.” We all know how that turned out. Sorry to bring some bad memories back in regards to Steven Stamkos, but that’s what the general manager said in May of 2024 following another first-round exit for the Bolts. While it’s unlikely Kucherov heads to Smashville to join Stamkos, the chances of him wearing a different uniform crept up just a little. Are we in full-blown panic mode yet? No, not really. If we had a scale of 1-5 on the Kuchpocalypse scale we’ve moved from a 0.50 to a 1.25. In our hearts and minds we feel like this is going to get done. If this situation gets to the trade deadline without resolution, then we will ratchet that number up quite a bit. During his question-and-answer session with the assembled media, Mr. BriseBois did concede that the rising cap and escalating salaries has pretty much affected all contract negotiations. But he also acknowledged that every situation is different and teams have different financial opportunities and stages of development. The overall factor that will decide this contract situation is how big of a financial pill is Julien BriseBois willing and able to swallow to keep Nikita Kucherov on the roster. In the past, we speculated that anything under $15 million should be a no-brainer. However, when the very general manager that is trying to sign Kucherov acknowledges that his player is elite, and ever expectation is that he will stay that way for the near future, he’s going to have to sign a deal that reflects that. With the way the summer has gone, that might mean a six- or seven-year deal in the $17 million range. It would have been wonderful if this had been resolved on July 1 just to remove it as a potential source of distraction for the team. On the ice, things should be okay. It’s unlikely to affect the way Kucherov performs on the ice, and for the next few months that is really all that matters.