Nikita Kucherov Trade Request: Lightning Tell Teams He’s Not Available
The reigning MVP wants out of Tampa Bay, but the Lightning keep saying no, and July 1 may decide everything.
The answer from Tampa Bay hasn’t changed in almost two weeks. Nikita Kucherov wants out, and the Lightning are telling every team that calls that he isn’t available. Not now, not at the trade deadline, and not in the summer, Sportsnet’s Frank Seravalli reported this week.
That leaves the reigning NHL MVP in a strange spot. He’s playing for a team he has asked to leave, on an expiring contract, with no sign that either side is going to move. The Lightning play at Buffalo on Wednesday night (7 p.m. ET, TNT, truTV, HBO Max), another game in what has become a season-long story.
How the Nikita Kucherov trade request started
The news broke on Oct. 30. TSN’s Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun reported that Kucherov told the team he would not re-sign and asked for a trade. He and agent Dan Milstein informed management that evening, and Kucherov told his teammates on the team flight to Nashville, according to TSN.
General manager Julien BriseBois answered within hours. “We unequivocally have no intention of trading Nikita,” he said in a statement.
Kucherov, 33, is in the last season of an eight-year, $76 million contract with a $9.5 million cap hit. He can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2027.
Kucherov says it was never about money
Kucherov spoke publicly for the first time on Nov. 2. He said the request came from poor communication with BriseBois, not salary. He told reporters the two had only two conversations over four months, and that BriseBois made it clear he was free to walk in free agency, ESPN reported.
He also said he’d keep playing hard for his teammates. Coach Jon Cooper said Kucherov is “100% a part of this team.”
In his first public comments since the bombshell trade request, Nikita Kucherov explained Monday to reporters in Tampa why he came to that decision.
Our @TheAthletic news story ⤵️https://t.co/0XuTDyUr2O— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) November 2, 2026
The contract numbers are still part of the backdrop. Seravalli reported Tampa’s revised offer is believed to be four years at $15 million a season. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Kucherov’s initial ask was pegged to Kirill Kaprizov’s $17 million average annual value. Neither number has been confirmed by the team.
Lightning hold the line with rival GMs
Interest isn’t the problem. Kucherov is coming off a 130-point season, and one NHL general manager told The Athletic’s LeBrun that every team would want him. Teams have checked in, and the Lightning’s response has been the same each time, Seravalli reported: they have no plans to trade him before the deadline or during the summer.
That stance has a logic to it. Tampa Bay is a contender right now, and trading the best player on the roster in November would cut into that. Seravalli has said he would be surprised if Kucherov finished the season anywhere else as long as the Lightning stay in the race, according to a summary of his reporting on Yahoo Sports.
Where Kucherov could end up
If a deal ever happens, Kucherov has some say. He has a modified no-trade clause that lets him submit a list of 10 approved teams, and Friedman has reported the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens are among the teams he’d consider.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported that Kucherov wants to play alongside one of the league’s top stars. Toronto keeps coming up because of Auston Matthews, and there’s a simple path there that doesn’t require a trade at all: wait until July 1 and sign as a free agent.
Kucherov isn’t the only star to force the issue this fall. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck asked out of Winnipeg, sat out camp and was eventually traded, and Jets fans booed Hellebuyck in his first trip back to Winnipeg this week. Tampa Bay’s situation is different so far: Kucherov is still in the lineup every night.
What it means on the ice
So far, the drama hasn’t wrecked the Lightning. They entered this week 11-4-2, near the top of the East, per NHL.com. Kucherov had a team-high 18 points through 13 games when he first addressed the request, and he passed Steven Stamkos last month to become the franchise’s all-time points leader.
Kucherov has spent his entire career with Tampa Bay since the Lightning drafted him 58th overall in 2011. He has two Hart Trophies and two Stanley Cups. Unless something changes, the next real decision point is July 1, when he can pick his next team himself.
For more coverage, see our NHL news page.
Sources: TSN, ESPN, AP via NBC Sports, Yahoo Sports (2), House of Hockey, NHL.com, Pierre LeBrun
