Nikita Kucherov has signed a new contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

This is a good deal but not a steal according to @dcc94

Not really...He is a winger and doesn't have to pay state tax...plus is playing for a stacked team.

Only player with more points over the last 2 seasons is McDavid. Great extension for me.

He literally just had a 100 pts season and makes less than 10 mil a year for the next 8 years and this contract end when he's 33... With salary cap going up and salary inflation, this is a steal.

He's worth 9.5 this year. This'll probably be a good contract for the first 5 years after that Tampa will have to keep hoping the cap raises to afford him when his production starts to slow.

Its like paying him 10.75 Mill in California....From his point of view.....Everyone would say thats fair...so 9.5 is great.

I disagree. I don’t think it’s a steal. He makes exactly what elite players make. If they could’ve gotten him for like 8/8.5, then that’s a steal. @9.5 is not a steal imo

I've heard he's a decent player.

Good for Kucherov to make the big bucks. Yzerman probably coulda had him for lower, had he not gone the bridge deal route instead, but, at the same time, the Lightning were insanely close to the cap for the last few years.

Wouldn't call this a steal.

But this is a good signing by Tampa. Kucherov probably could have demanded more.

$9.5 is like $12.2M in Toronto/MTL/Ottawa... Cap should be adjusted for state/provincial taxes.

With JT getting 11M per year, TB got a better player for less.

Really? He signed for 11.95% of the cap. Tampa is paid him less than Giroux, Benn, Parise, Kane, Perry, Voracek, and Tank just to name a few. And paying him the same amount as Drai who he is better than. That's a good price for him.

The cap should be adjusted for state/local taxes? Isn't it up to the state/province/locality what their taxes should be? The Lightning didn't dictate to Toronto/MTL/Ottawa what they should charge their citizens, what services should be offered for free, or that they should vote a particular way. In any case, if they were to do that, it would give an advantage to those teams. They would simply wait for other teams to sign players at a lower salary, then trade for them and gain the advantage of a higher cap.

I swear there's one specific user on this site the votes "NO" on every single signing thread.

Wow, this is an amazing contract. Good for Yzerman.

This is how $9.5M salary stacks up when income taxes are considered.

Highest take home pay: TBL, NSH, VGK, DAL, FLA
Lowest: OTT, TOR

*doesn't consider agent fees, escrow, tax changes from travel, etc
**financial details provided by @GavinHockeyWlthhttps://t.co/qkS3ZkVyMT pic.twitter.com/WfKnivGV32

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) July 10, 2018

Good deal for Yzerman. Realistically, Kucherov could’ve demanded whatever he wanted. Tampa almost certainly wouldn’t trade him had he dedmanded something over 10M. It’s a great contract given what high end players make nowadays.

This is a good contract for the Lightning. Kucherov gets paid pretty well, and will be around for a good long time through his prime.

Unfortunately, the Lightning are getting to the point where they can't pay everyone. Let's say the cap continues to go up pretty regularly. They have 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 2 goalies signed for 2019-20, and have $13.6 mil in cap space. Let's say that goes up to an even $17.0 mil. That's not a lot to bring back Anton Stralman, Yanni Gourde, Brayden Point, and fill out the rest of the roster.

I can even begin to think of how they could fit Erik Karlsson on this team...

Also, I think it's time to move Ryan Callahan, and probably lose a guy like Alex Killorn.

Or not? Let's continue to reward teams like Toronto for being the "capital of the hockey world"?

If you want to play in Toronto, you will take less takehome pay to do so. Just ask John Tavares, who took $2.5 mil/year less to sign with Toronto over the Sharks (who were probably never really in the JT race anyways), and who took the highest taxed market on top of that.

There has to be some incentive for players to go to teams like Florida or Arizona or Carolina. If you make the same anywhere you want, there will be a collection of "superteams" like the NBA where everyone jumps to the biggest market with the best players.

Good on Kucherov and Stamkos and Hedman for taking "less" money to stay with their team and build something instead of jumping ship to chase pennies.

Tampa is like the Musical Chairs of cap maneuvers.

Less than an hour after he signs and we've already got the "ADJUST THA CAP FOR MUH TAXES" comment.

I wonder how much Wheeler and Laine will get now that we got Kucherov's deal to compare with?

When are they going to fix the salary cap to be based around all taxes? ... 2050?