Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet joined NHL Tonight with Jamison Coyle, Mike Rupp, and Cory Schneider and was asked whether everything coming from Nikita Kucherov and his camp is a negotiating tactic. Friedman reiterated, as he did last weekend, that Kucherov means it and this is not a tactic; he has made up his mind to leave.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Mike Rupp: “I want to ask you this though: that news that you broke there, that Nikita Kucherov news. This is just- I’m not even really expecting you to have an answer on this; I just want your opinion because you’re well plugged in. All the words and comments we’re hearing are coming from Kucherov and from the agents. It feels like I don’t know. It kind of feels like a negotiation tactic at this point. And there’s still a ton of time. Like, yeah, the fact that you’re gonna- they’re kind of saying the decision’s been made. I don’t know. Am I reading too much into this here?”
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Elliotte Friedman: “No, I don’t. Like, I think your reaction is perfectly natural. And I’ll say this, Michael: you’re not the only person who has said that to me. I think the one thing that’s important to recognize is we still haven’t heard from Julien BriseBois and the Lightning, and even though, like, in no way, shape, or form, am I calling Kucherov a liar, I think we still have to hear from BriseBois at one point to hear how he feels about things.
But the one thing I’ve been asking, and this was, so that happened last Friday night, and I spent Friday night and Saturday basically reaching out to everybody I could think of who knew Kucherov, played with Kucherov, everything like that, and every single one of them were like, “If he says it, it’s real, like he means it.”
And if you’ve watched it, Michael, like, ever since he did that, he’s had six points in three games, I think, and he’s kind of indicated it’s like a whole weight off his shoulders that he was bottling it up, and it was really bothering him. And now he just feels better that he has it out there.
I’ve learned that what is true today might not be true tomorrow, and you should never make 100% statements because this is life and things change. But people do really believe he’s serious about not returning to Tampa, and that’s legit.
Now, if the Lightning come with some big offer, maybe things change. But the people who know Kucherov said that this is not a negotiation tactic for him, and when he speaks about this, he means it.”
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NHLRumors.com Note: Everyone can say that what Nikita Kucherov said last Friday was a negotiating tactic, but the way the player talked on Monday, he was dead serious about becoming a free agent. Even the GM, though, said the player’s words suggested he could walk. Kucherov’s agent, Dan Milstein, told DFO Insider it was time to move on after summer discussions went nowhere.
Again, most figured this would get done in the summer, and this is how things played out between Kucherov and the Lightning.
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