NHL Notes: Lightning Cap Issues, Kucherov, Free Agents

• Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois says team will be cap compliant despite sitting over the cap with two RFAs to sign
• Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov could miss the start of the season with a potential hip injury
• With the framework for the 2020-21 NHL season in place, we could see some top free agents signing soon

While the NHL biggest news of the week focused on the NHL and NHL Players’ Association’s announcement on an agreed upon framework for the 2020-21 NHL season, let’s check in on some other news and notes from around the league.

Brisebois: Lightning ‘Will be (Cap) Compliant’

While many teams across the NHL are feeling a salary-cap crunch thanks to a flat cap of $81.5M this season, the Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves in a precarious situation when it comes to their own finances. However, their general manager Julien BriseBois is vowing to get his club under the cap before the beginning of the regular season on Jan. 13.

“We will be (cap) compliant by the start of the season,” BriseBois told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun via text message.

As it stands today, the Lightning are a little more than $1.9M over the cap, but also have a pair of restricted free agents in need of new contracts in the form of center Anthony Cirelli and defenseman Erik Cernak.

Given his play and his spot as the team’s second-line center, Cirelli’s deal will not be insignificant while Cernak should be the easier of the two to get under contract.

The Lightning already signed fellow RFA Mikhail Sergachev to a three-year, $14.4M contract this offseason, but also placed forward Tyler Johnson on waivers in an attempt to shed his $5M annual cap hit – for four more seasons – from their books altogether, but Johnson went unclaimed and remains with the 2020 Stanley Cup champions.  Complicating matters with Johnson is the fact his contract contains a full no-move clause.

It appears the team’s cap issues will extend beyond this season as the Lightning have already committed $75.2M to just 13 players for the 2021-22 season, according to CapFriendly.

File this one under the cost of winning category as the Lightning are +750 to repeat as Stanley Cup champions at hockey betting sites.

Kucherov Out?

There’s also a chance that the Lightning’s cap issues could be solved by Long-Term Injured Reserve.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, superstar winger Nikita Kucherov is battling an injury that could keep him out of the lineup for ‘awhile’. While Friedman notes that details surrounding the situation are sketchy, LeBrun notes that Kucherov received a shot in his hip last week and the plan is to see how he reacts to it moving forward.

If Kucherov were to miss notable time, the team could place his $9.5M cap hit on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR), allowing them to exceed the salary cap by that amount. Such a move would then leave the Lightning with roughly $7.6M in cap space to open the 2020-21 season.

While some may view such a scenario as a loophole, note that the Lightning obviously would much rather have the player and find other avenues to solve their cap woes.

After all, Kucherov tallied 85 points in 68 games last season and led the NHL with 128 points in the 2018-19 season. Over the last four seasons, only Connor McDavid has recorded more points than Kucherov’s 398. His 1.31 points per game in that time also ranks second to McDavid’s 1.38 mark.

Solving their cap issues would be welcomed for BriseBois and co., however they certainly do not want it to come at the expense of one of the very best players in the NHL.

Free Agent Frenzy 2.0?

When free agency opened on Oct. 9, many of the top names came off the board in a hurry, as per usual for the NHL’s unrestricted free-agent period.

However, once the dust settled, some notable names remained. Now, with the league announcing its plans for the upcoming season, it’s been speculated that the will start signing with new clubs soon, although discounted prices are to be expected.

Mike Hoffman, one of the better pure goal-scorers in the league, remains as the top available free agent coming off a season in which he tallied 29 goals and 59 points in 69 games with the Florida Panthers.

The top center on the board is Erik Haula, who split last season between the Carolina Hurricanes and Panthers, notching 12 goals and 34 points in 48 games.

According to TSN’s Frank Seravalli, the Vegas Golden Knights are a team that could be interested in one of the two forwards, but will need to clear cap space in order to sign one.

“I’m told the Golden Knights have doubled down in recent days and weeks in an attempt to try and move (Max) Pacioretty,” Seravalli said back on Dec. 8. “He has three years left at $7 million a year coming off a 32-goal shortened season. You think back previously in this off-season, they were trying to move any numbers of players on their team to try and gain salary cap flexibility. There is no question the team is over the cap at this point, but they believe they can be cap compliant by opening night.

“Pacioretty would go a long way in terms of getting some of that flexibility and also enable them to potential take a run at any number of the high-profile free agents that remain unsigned at this point, like a Mike Hoffman or an Erik Haula.

Of course, the Golden Knights signed Alex Pietrangelo to a seven-year, $61.6M deal this offseason and also traded Nate Schmidt and Paul Stastny – and their combined $12.45M 2020-21 cap hit – as a result.

Other top names available include defensemen Sami Vatanen and Travis Hamonic while forwards Corey Perry, Mikael Granlund and Andreas Athanasiou will draw interest as well.