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Nikita Kucherov TRADE REQUEST Shocks NHL! Lightning Recap & Preview · Backchecking the Bolts

• Nikita Kucherov TRADE REQUEST Shocks NHL! Lightning Recap & Preview: Coming up, I'm Backchecking the Bolts.. We'd love as fans and people who aren't in it to speculate about what goes on in a locker room, about it in an NHL locker room, and Kucherov must be tearing this locker room apart with with this demand. Of of all the you know places, I think Tampa's best equipped to handle this. you know, they have a lot of veteran voices on there. They understand each other, they've been through the wars with this guy, they know who Nikita Kucherov is. And you always understand the business. Exactly. And y and you hear a lot about the Nikita Kucherov that people think is Nikita Goutrov is a far cry from who he actually is. behind the closed doors, he's he's a really open guy. He's a really good teammate. That's what everybody says. He's a great teammate. And I don't think he would do this. I don't think he would announce this to the team unless he knew they would support him. Welcome to Backchecking the Bolts.. Backchecking the Bolts. is your cup of coffee to get you the latest on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Join hosts Jason Linkes. and the managing editor of Raw Charge, Justin Godfrey, as they break down the Lightning's most recent games and go beyond the highlights, telling you what the box scores didn't. It's time to drop the puck. Hi, everybody, welcome to Backchecking the Bolts.. And this one's going to be an interesting episode, folks, because of course anyone who's a Lightning fan knows Nikita Kucherov has requested a trade. We are going to break that all down. Also, we're going to recap the Bolt 6-4 win against the Winnipeg Jets, a game that they stormed out to a 5-1 lead, and the Jets came storming back. It was the Jets' seventh loss in a row. Then they traveled to Nashville on Saturday, a Halloween matchup. They lost 5-4 in a shootout to the Predators, and it was Steven Stamkos with the tying goal and the winning goal in the shootout. We're going to have Justin recap his eighty-four bets in eighty-four games, and now it's time to bring in the managing editor of Raw Charge. You can read him each and every day at www.rachcharge.com. Justin, the Bolts. have lost three of four, but they have points in three of four. So It just depends. Are you a glass half full, glass half empty kind of guy? Are you a little bit disappointed in how loose the game was in Nashville? Because we're going to talk about Kucherov here in a second, but real quick, that game against Nashville, I felt they gave that game away just by being too loose on the defensive end. Yeah, I think I think out of the three losses or so that they had, you saw a little bit of in the Utah game, just where they they go out to the big lead and then just kind of forget how to play defensive hockey after a while. the Nashville game was more throughout the game. I thought Nashville played really well after the beginning of the second period. I mean, think they dominated most of the second period and finally were rewarded with the the game time goal at the end to make it three three. yeah it's just it's stuff that we've we've seen in the past with the Lightning as far as the odd man rushes, then the breakdowns and devent defensive zone coverage. I mean this was the stuff we didn't see at the beginning of the year here. they were a lot more responsible with the puck. They weren't sacrificing defense for offense, which I think they kind of did against Nashville a little bit. And it came back to burn them. Just a little attention to details. This has kind of slipped away for whatever reason. Long break, distracting things off ice, who knows? It's it's not good to see. You know, it's something that you want to see them turn around starting with a d Detroit game this week. you know, they have a a a fairly decent schedule moving forward. There there is that Minnesota game thrown in there. but you're looking at Detroit, Chicago, and I think Winnipeg as well. So, you know, three out of four games where they should be the better defensive team, they should be the better offensive team as well. And hopefully they can kind of string it together and get back to where they they need to be to be, you know, competitive in the postseason. Justin, let's talk about the distracting news. Nikita Kucherov, it came out, has requested a trade. The MVP of the league rarely requests trades. the year after winning the MVP. I don't care what league you're talking about. For the Lightning, he's a free agent after this year. Right now, what do we know is going on with this Nikita Kucherov saga? I think pretty much the only thing that we really know is that when the team flew to Nashville, Kucherov told his teammates on the plane that he was not interested in signing an extension and was going to request a trade. after the team landed, I believe the last report I saw, I think Kevin Weeks had mentioned that it was Kucherov, his agent Dan Milstein, Julius Breesois, and John Cooper in the room. and that's when Kucherov and Milstein informed the Lightning that he wasn't going to sign an extension. So that's pretty much what we know. That right there boils down everything else, is pretty much speculation. Now, Justin, there was some speculation on what the Lightning has offered Kucherov. Now, right now, Kucherov is making a little bit north of nine million dollars. By today's standards, well underpaid, especially when Leo Karlsson signed the offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, which Anaheim matched, he's making eighteen million a year. In the off season, you and I talked about how that was going to completely change the market. Many people were expecting and I should say hoping that. That the Lightning were going to get a hometown discount from Kucherov. From what Chris Johnson is reporting, that's not the case. Yeah. So we had a couple of different sources on this one as far as what we're sp thinking the two sides are at. When Pierre LeBrun, was initially talking about it, he had mentioned that the the latest offer from the Lightning was four years fifteen million dollars. He didn't put a timeline as to when that offer was made. and then going back to what Kevin Weeks treat tweeted out today. is that the Lightning, had initially, I believe tweeted, offered around thirteen million dollars. And then after the Karlsson deal, after the Kyle McCart deal is when they raised theirs up to fifteen. and then Chris Johnson's reporting that Kucherov is seeking anywhere the six year, twenty million per year. So there's a wide gap, not only in years, but in the amount of money being paid. And, you know, it's tough. I think when we talked about it initially, you know, before all the the madness happened with offer sheets and and big contracts and stuff. we were right around the fifteen million mark. that seemed about fair. And then after that, I was in the eighteen to nineteen million timeframe. The guy's worth it. That being said, if that doesn't fit into Julian Breesbois's plans, he's not gonna sign it. I mean that's that's what we learned with the Steven Stampco situation is these are two guys that stick with what they believe in, you know, and if Julian BriseBois doesn't want to pay Dikki to Kucherov six years for six years twenty million dollars, he's not gonna do it. He's not gonna bend, he's not gonna fold, right? And then Kucherov is the same. If he thinks he's worth twenty million dollars or something close, he's not gonna give in and sign a you know a fifteen million dollar a year, especially if it's only four or four years. So yeah So Justin, let's say you're Julian BriseBois, you have your feet dug in the sand at that fifteen million dollar number. Kutcharoff says, Hey, I'm worth more than that. And quite honestly, I I wouldn't blame the guy. He's going to probably get twenty million from somebody. There it's very rare that a guy like a Nikita Kucherov, a hundred and thirty point score, is available in free agency. But your Julian Brisbane, do you try to ride this out and win a cup? Or do you trade him to get something for him so you at least have some assets coming back without letting him walk for nothing? either option is in play right now. We saw it with Stamcos. He's willing to take this to the end. And if he doesn't have a deal on the table that he likes that he thinks will make the team better now and in the future, he won't take it. He's not just gonna take a trade just to trade, just to get some picks back or something like that. It's gonna have to be a a deal that he thinks is worthy of of the time and effort to put into it. And if not, I have no doubt he'll go to free agency. Let Kucherov walk in free agency. We've seen it before. you know, there's other GMs out there that I I think You wouldn't say that about, but he's given us the history. I mean, he did it with Darren Raddysh last year, right? You know, I mean this isn't I don't know why people are surprised that, you know, Bruce Blyle isn't quote unquote caving in. You know, this is his the the patterns he's established. If he thinks the deal's worth it, he'll sign it. If he doesn't, he won't. And that's where it's gonna be moving forward. Are you a little bit surprised that it got to this point? Where he requested a trade in the middle of the season. And even though he didn't make it public, somebody in his camp likely did, or someone within the organization. Because the news got out to the media and they interviewed Hedman and point after the game in Nashville, and they basically said, Hey, we're supporting our teammate. We understand what's going on. But are you a little bit surprised as someone who's covered the Lightning since 2016 that we're at this point? For me it's it's more about the timing of it. I'd always in my internal clock had put kind of the holidays if they hadn't you know come to an agreement by then or we hadn't heard anything more about it moving forward. That's when I thought maybe we'd start seeing something along these lines. so it is kind of surprising that it's leaked out. and if I had to make a guess, it's coming from the Kucherov camp. the Lightning are renowned for being ultra secretive about their negotiations. you know, honestly, I probably think BriseBois more upset that this has gotten out than he is about where they're at in the negotiations, probably, you know, and especially if it came from his side, you know, whoever it was, they won't be in the building any longer. You you always hope that that they're gonna find reconciliation. but knowing the two sides, this was always a possibility. there was always a possibility that they weren't gonna come to an agreement. I mean, Nikita Kucherov knows what he's worth and he's not gonna settle for anything less. I mean, the man is stubborn is sometimes used as a bad word, but it's also good. The man believes in in himself. And on the same token, Julian Brice Bois believes about his plan for how to build the Lightning and keep them contenders. And I don't think paying somebody twenty million dollars a year is part of his plan, even if it is one of the best three players in the league. it would be surprised to see them money ball a solution if if Kucherov does get traded or if he does sign somewhere else where he takes that, you know. the funds allocated and doesn't give it to one player, but gives it to two players who can kind of somewhat replicate what Nikita Kucherov does. You know, you're never going to be able to do it. but, you know, if I can bring in two players who can add up to give me a hundred points, then, you know, that's maybe a better use of talent, especially if they're, you know, five or six years younger, which is honestly, I think that's, you know, the big sticking point right now. If if we're talking about if Nikita Kucherov was twenty nine years old, if he was thirty years old right now. And this was a negotiation. I think this is a done deal. I think I think Breeswatt has no problem playing him twenty million dollars a year. But it he is thirty three, and yes, he's the best thirty-three player to ever play th thirty three year old player to ever play this game, but at the same time, you know, how how much when does he fall off the cliff? Exactly. And, you know, what is that twenty million dollars gonna look like in in four years? You know, granted, based on the way the the cap's going up. It's not gonna be as big a hit as it is today or tomorrow or next year. But at the same time, at some point the cap is gonna flatten out. You know, you're we're not gonna keep getting ten million dollar increases every year. I think they've earmarked like next year going up to 114 and then like 125 the year after that. But in two years, who knows what the the cap's gonna look like. And so yeah, you know, Brees Boss got a plan. He's if anyone any GM in this league has planned for this situation, it's him. He's got plans A, B, D, A, B, C, D, Q. Everything. So he'll have something to work out. And you know, Kucherov goes somewhere else. The Lightning all of a sudden become players for a lot of different players. you know, Jason Robertson, Quinn Hughes, some of these names. But if but but if but if they go get Jason Robertson, he's going to want a King's ransom as well. Yeah. So you're basically saying, Hey, we're not paying Kutcharoff, we're gonna pay a much younger player in Jason Robertson. But you're still gonna have that money allocated. The other thing I would say, Justin, is even though the NHL salary cap is projected to continue to go up by 10 million next year and more the following year, each team has an internal budget. And that's more important than the NHL salary cap because not every team is going to spend up to the cap, especially with it rising as much as as it is. You see the attendance issues in a lot of places. It hasn't happened in Tampa as of now. But I would just caution people to just because the cap is going up, not every team or your favorite team is going to continue spending to the maximum part of that salary cap. I think you're gonna see more teams stay a few million, maybe five, eight million short of the cap for their own internal budgets. yeah, definitely. I agree with you a hundred percent on that. And the Lightning have new ownership group, right? maybe they're not as invested as Jeff Vinik was in some of these players. you know, Vinik was there when when Cooch got drafted and he's watched him. I mean, everyone remembers the celebration of of those two hugging and dumping beer on each other. I mean, as much as this is a business, it's also personal. You know, I I think Vinik would if he was still the majority owner, would be like, hey, let's get this done. and so you wonder what some of the influence for the new guys is. Are they putting in an internal budget in on Brice Bois? Do they want to be a little bit more conservative moving forward? So it's gonna be interesting. People like to assign blame in these situations and and it seems like I would say from what I've seen on social media, seventy thirty it's on Brice Bois from the fans. You know, everyone's gonna I would agree with that. I was a little bit surprised how much and I g and again, I get it. People Kucherov as a player. He's been a good guy. But I'm a little bit surprised when a guy wants pretty close to a max deal that there's so much resentment towards the general manager. How much of that do you think stems back to them not re signing Steven Stamcos? A lot. yeah, I think that's that's the majority of it. And you know, and you know, Brees Wah has made some some miscalculations in trades lately. And if it's what have you done for me to y yesterday or today, right? You it's been a while since the Lightning have won a won a playoff series and and a lot of that blame goes to BriseBois and and I think people are starting to think maybe he's lost his touch. He's that being said, he's made a lot of good deals lately. The Jake Guentzel signing was was really good. great deal. The Hildeby trade was gonna pay off. the fact that he got anything for trading Radishway, even if it was you know, a a measly draft pick. You know, I think he played that situation pretty well. It's it's the Brandon Hagel contract right now is an absolute steal. the Hagel and the J. J. Moser trade. the I think the J. J. Moser contract's probably more of a steal right now than the Hagel, you seeing what defensemen are signing for. I mean, would you rather have Moser a you know Bo Byron right now, you know, for what, seven, eight million dollars less? And yeah. That just kicked in this year. So he's got, you know, he's got his number one defenseman signed long term for what's probably gonna be a minimum salary within three years. So yeah, he's still he's still got the fastball. It's just There's so much emotion involved with this. Kucherov is such b a beloved player in Lightning. And and pretty much where I was going with this, I don't blame either one of them in this. Like, I don't this is just the way business is done now. you know, Brain Point said it. He's like, hey, he's my friend, he's my teammate, but this is his business. And Kucha's gotta look out for himself and Brees Watt's gotta look out for the best interests of the teams. It's just gonna happen when you have this much money added in the league as in terms of cap room. This is what the players are gonna do. This is why we're seeing it with the Dylan Larkins and the Connor Helebix. I mean, three years ago, you could go to your GM and be like, Hey, I wanna be traded and he's gonna look at you and be like, I can't trade you to anybody 'cause nobody's got cap space. So unless you want to go play for Chicago or San Jose, who has cap space, you know, good luck. But now when you have some of these more desirable markets that have the flexibility financially to take on these contracts, it it puts a little more power in the players' hands. So, you know, good on them for taking advantage of it. I could I got no hate for anybody in this situation. And I think it's fascinating. well talking about fascinating, Justin, let's take a look at the last two blockbuster deals that have happened in the NHL. Now, this would be a trade during the season, and whoever gets Kucherov, unless it's a sign and trade kind of deal, you're only guaranteed to get them for a few months. But the last couple blockbusters, you had Brady Tkachuk from Ottawa down to Florida. And you had the Quinn Hughes deal. Tell everybody about those two deals because that's probably the closest that we could talk about a possible Kucherov trade in terms of value going to one organization. Yeah. I mean, if you look at Quinn Hughes, you're looking at they got Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren,, Ziv Boyum, and a first round pick. it's basically four first round picks when you look at it. I think actually Rossi may have been a third round pick. But he had just signed a extension on his deal. He was an RFA right before the trade. So he's a good young player. I think that's kind of comparable. Now you were getting an extra year with Quinn Hughes, because as they traded for him last year. and then, you know, the Tkachuk situation was basically three three first round picks and a second rounder, but again, much longer term deal. So the I think the surprising thing in both of those is salary was not retained by either team. Which to me gives the Lightning a little bit of an advantage. Yes, you're gonna make a trade. And right now the only guarantee is now until the end of the season. But A, it's only gonna be nine and a half million dollars, you know, prorated out whatever is left. B, the Lightning can afford to eat some money on this deal. if they can get a little bit better return on it, they have the room to eat, you know, thirty per thirty-three percent, forty percent, fifty percent. Now, if you're getting Nikita Kucherov, even if it's only for little over, eighty percent of a season, but you're getting him for four and a half million dollars. I mean, that's a risk. That's another prospect or a good player. Exactly. Yeah. And and I think basically what I'm looking for for the like if if they are gonna trade him, if, you know, whatever Brees Wall said about unequivocally, no intention of trading him is just a smoke screen for other GMs not to lowball him. I'm looking for a a type A prospect, a tier A prospect. I don't wanna A middle hey, this guy's gonna be a project to be a middle six. I want a guy who's gonna score goals, who's gonna play in the top six. I'm looking for multiple first round picks or high picks, second round picks, you know, first second round picks, and I'm looking for a young NHL ready guy. And, you know, that's kind of what the asking price has been for Dylan Larkin. And honestly, if you had to choose between Dylan Larkin and Nikita Kucherov to give up those types of prospects, I'm taking Kucherov every day of the week, twice on Sunday, three times on Saturday. So, It's gonna be interesting to see how it goes as far as negotiating. Does Breesba wanna trade him within division? I think honestly, Montreal is the perfect fit for him in terms of playing style, what Montreal needs and what they can give back. But again, that's it's it would have to be a godfather offer for for Breespaw to trade it within division. so we'll see. I think I think it has to be the type of deal that makes a fan of that team being like, no way would I do that deal, right? It's got to really blow him out of the socks for for BriseBois to think about it. Well, Justin, let's we've talked enough about Kucherov. Let's go back and recap the last couple games. We had a 6-4 win on Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets. In that game, it was the Pontus Holmburg Show. Four points for Pontus, who's had a really good start to the season. It's been a great month for him. He's in the top five in team scoring. But Justin, this was a game where besides the Holmburg show, They really had a big second period. And in particular, the back half of the second period, where they scored four goals, they really took it to the Jets, and the Jets are right now in a world of trouble. They at that point they came into the game. That was their seventh loss in a row. They've lost two more since this podcast. They've now lost nine straight. They gave up a touchdown to the Carolina Hurricanes today. What did they do in that second period that really took the game away from the Jets? I I thought it was you know, what we had talked about kind of in the preview where they were getting their forecheck going. they were getting the puck out of their own zone really cleanly and just not giving up the breakaways. They they were dominating the pu you know, they basically just had the puck the entire I would say two qu two thirds of the second period. I mean, you're looking at fourteen seven edge and shots. Think the big one for me was the thirteen to one edge and high danger chances. that does include some of the power plays that the Lightning had that was in all situations. I thought the Lightning power play looked pretty good and it it felt like it broke the the jets a little bit. the Lightning scored pretty quickly. Turn a close game into a a not so close game and it it it felt like Winnipeg kinda just lost focus a little bit. And next thing they know, the Lightning bang in a couple more goals and then it's really out of reach, or so we thought. It's five one, everyone's Jumping around, everyone's celebrating. They did the video tribute to Kucherov, and everyone's cheering for him. So it's it was a pretty good atmosphere. And then, third period just went off the rails. So what happened in the third period? It was five-one after after two. You had Dylan Sandberg who scored when there was a lot of hijinks happening behind the play. But then the Jets started taking it a little bit to the Lightning. You had the Peyonk goal, the They pulled the goalie, they got the Kyle Connor goal. All of a sudden, this one from being a lafford a 5-4 with the Jets pressing. What happened after that 5-2? Did they just stop skating or did the Jets just go on on the attack? A little bit. They gave up a couple rush goals. the Sandberg go goal, like you said, came off of a rush with kind of like Brandon Hagel and one of the Jets players kind of pushing and shoving in the background. I was really actually, it was it was enough watching it. from up top that I'm surprised the refs didn't blow the whistle. I thought there was enough that, you know, they would have gotten unsportsman likes and and thrown off. And I think the Lightning Bench was kinda surprised that they didn't blow a whistle. Hedman went over to the refs after the goal and was kinda like, Hey, what's going on? It's a loss of focus, right? You can't until you hear the whistle blow, don't stop playing. And th think they kinda gave up on it a little bit. And then Bianc scores again off of a rush. the power play was I was just a missile shot. So it was a really good shot. But Yeah, then Holmberg slammed the door. I I I thought they, after five four and their pressing, I I thought they regained their shape in the zone a little bit and you know, got that six four goal and closed it out. So yeah, it was it's there's still stuff that needs to be worked on with the team. for some reason the long layoff seemed to to kind of upset a little bit as far as their rhythm. So we'll see. We'll see how they get do now that they're kind of back to a regular schedule. Justin, the Bolts. had a Halloween tilt in the afternoon with the Nashville Predators. It was a back and forth game, and it was our old friend Steven Stamkos with the game tire, won it with the shootout, a 5-4 overtime loss. Tampa had a great second period against Winnipeg, but this game against Nashville was marred by defensive breakdowns. Nashville scored on multiple two-on-one. They had a lot of great quality scoring chances. What did you see with some of the defensive breakdowns? just getting the puck out of the zone. they struggled with that a lot throughout the game. And then, Coach Cooper kind of called him his defense some eager beavers in re in regards to their play in the offensive zone. So it kind of pinched down a little too low, got a little too aggressive, instead of bailing out, maybe going for the safer play. So we talked about at the you know start of the podcast is sometimes you just gotta know when to do it. when to stay back and earlier the season th they had pretty good reads on on when to press and when to stay back. And now I think they're just kinda a little over aggressive. and then just some defensive zone breakdowns. It ha honestly it happens to teams throughout the year. he's trying to get back to that twelve to six rotation, I think. not having Girgenson's kind of messes up the the forward units a little bit. So they're kind of trying to play their way through it and it just hasn't been very In sync hasn't been very smooth. Nashville was just a better team, honestly, on Saturday. I think the Lightning were honestly kind of lucky to get a point out of it. I don't know if they kind of deserved some of the goals that they got. They got you know, and they found a way to get a point. but they almost stole it too, 'cause Moser had a golden opportunity in overtime. Great chance on the backhand. And that glove just came out of nowhere. And Annan's just kinda swiped it out of swiped it out of the air and and and set the table for Steven Stampos. And I didn't realize that was his first goal against the Lightning. I know he hasn't played him that much. Really? Yeah. So I think he's played he had three he had three assists in four games going into the game. but yeah, that was the first time he scored against him and you know, and Vasilevskiy made a hell of a save on the on the first opportunity. you know, he did. It was one of those patented things that Lightning fans have seen Stamcos do forever, just uncorked that one timer and and Vassilski got over there. It just had the unfortunate break of the puck coming right back to Stamcos and before anybody could get on him, it just goes in the net, you know, puts it in the net. So you shake it off, you you watch the video, you you you learn what not to do and then you try and improve. You know, they've had an extra day off. They got Detroit coming up on Tuesday. And I think you gotta come out and you just gotta put it to the Red Wings. just Don't give him any break. Get that lead, keep the lead, and you know, finish out strong and kind of get back into your rhythm. Well, let's talk about the fourth line. It was Connor Geekie, his third goal in his many games. He seems to be finding that rhythm that you were talking about. Jeffrey Viel made a really nice play, intercepted a pass from behind the net, fed it right to Geekie in front for the goal. But the fourth line is starting to create some opportunities, and that is something that I think was missing a little bit at times earlier this year. The fourth line seems to be finding a little bit of footing right now. Geekie's finding a spot on that fourth line. You sort of wish they would bump him up though a little bit, because I you just want to see a guy with that good a hands get more chances. Yeah, it it was kind of interesting. They started The Nashville game with Holmbert playing on Cirelli and Hagel's line, which he had done in the Winnipeg game when he put up the four points. but they pre quickly conceded a couple goals. So they had they they moved it around. They put Goncalves on that line and moved Holmberg back with James, I believe. but yeah, it's it's Geekie's he's doing it the right way, right? You you earn your playing time in this league and he's going out there, he's playing with whoever Cooper puts him with, and he's When he's on the ice, he's noticeable, which is something you couldn't say for long stretches of the first two stints in Tampa. He would disappear on the ice a little bit. That's not the case now. I thought he was really good against Winnipeg as well. Him and James, you know, looked really good together and I wouldn't be surprised if when Gourde comes back, which sounds like it's gonna be a little sooner than ex anticipated, that you see James and Geekie playing. And I don't think it'll be your prototypical fourth line, especially if Yow's on it. Or even Gonsalves, I think I wouldn't be surprised to see gun gauge Gonsalves, James, and Geekie together. you know, a younger line that's gonna play with a lot of speed and have some offensive skill. So yeah, even if he's down there, if he's getting 10 to 12 minutes, like his big goal this year is just s stay in the NHL. Do what Cooper asked you to do, show your talent, play with confidence, and that's what he's been doing so far this year. So yeah, it's it it's a good thing to have somebody who can put the puck in the net, you know, on one of those non top two lines. And finally, the guy who requested to trade Nikita Kucherov with three helpers, he had a nice game on Saturday. Three more points for Nikita. Was this one of his better games of the year? I honestly I think it was a typical Nikita Kucherov game. I don't want to call the I don't want to call him a sociopath because it would probably get me in a lot of trouble. but his ability to like compartmentalize his life, and and people have always said this about him, like. Nothing that goes on outside of this sport of hockey affects the way he plays on the ice. And I think that's what the difference is between this situation and Dylan Larkin's situation is I don't think it's going to affect the way he plays on the ice. If anything, it's gonna give him a bigger chip on the shoulder. And we all know that when he's a little upset or a little annoyed, he tends to play his best hockey. So I wouldn't be surprised to see him go off, you know, over the next couple weeks. it's kind of interesting. We'd love as fans and people who aren't in it to speculate about what goes on in a locker room, about in an NHL locker room and Kucherov must be tearing this locker room apart with with this demand. Of of all the, you know, places, I think Tampa's best equipped to handle this. you know, they have a lot of veteran voices on there. They understand each other. They've been through the wards with this guy. They know who Nikita Kucherov is. And you always understand the business. Exactly. And y and you hear a lot about the Nikita Kucherov that people think Is Nikki Goutrov is a far cry from who he actually is. you know, behind the closed doors, he's he's a really open guy. He's a really good teammate. That's what everybody says. He's a great teammate. And I don't think he would do this. I don't think he would announce this to the team unless he knew they would support him. And I want to say, I think it was Jay Reacher who mentioned this in the intermission the other day in the Nashville game. The team could look at this as like, you know, we're gonna do this for Cooch. This is gonna be our last ride, right? And they they could come together. over this and be like, hey, if if he's not traded, we're gonna ride this as far as we can, because this is probably the last chance we get to play with this guy. And so it'll be interesting to see how it goes moving forward. You know, one game is one game, but we'll see how goes. Justin, let's talk about the eighty four bets in eighty four games. You were a winner in the Winnipeg game. You had a Lightning win. Charles Edward D'Astous with over one and a half shots. Where are you getting D'Astous over one and a half shots? My God I wish I could get that. Every time I see it here, it's two and a half. It's, you know, a local local betting app that we'll rename nameless unless they want to kick us some sponsorship money. has that they do have adjusted shot totals, that you can you can pick from and I think that's where I grabbed that from. I I do think his his baseline was was around two and a half shots. but yeah, I just liked you know, I didn't think Winnipeg plays very well on the power play. The funny thing is I think the Lightning only had one or two power plays in the game. they'd been taking a lot more as a team, especially you figure a team that struggles, that's struggling on the road, they're gonna try and cheat a little bit, get caught, give up some power plays. Wasn't necessarily the case, but I just liked that play and you know, it just took the Lightning to win because I thought they were the better team. And yeah. So it was nice to hit a winner, especially at plus one fifty or whatever it was. And then you you happen to be on the losing side of the ledger with the Nashville game. You took the Lightning mid game on the puck line, minus one and a half. For those of you who don't know what the puck line is, if you are the favorite, it's minus one and a half. If you are the underdog, it's plus one and a half. At the time the Lightning were the favorite, up three to two. They lost that one. So Justin, you went one and one but plus money with the plus one fifty on the parlay from the Winnipeg game. So let's hope You c you stay on the positive side of the ledger after dropping three in a row before. So hey, you're due for a hot streak right now. You know, sometimes I knew it was gonna happen at some point during this that I would f basically forget to put a bed in and couple it with the one PM start and some obligations I had during the day. I was driving home and had the game on the radio and I was like, yeah, I didn't put a bed in. And so you know. quickly put that in and thought it was a good situation, but yeah, they did not close the game out. So Justin, real quick, we got two games coming up this week, both at home before the Lightning head on the road this coming weekend. This weekend they play at Minnesota on Saturday, at Winnipeg on Sunday. But before they do that, it's Tuesday against last place Detroit and Thursday against last place Chicago. If you're looking at this just based on paper, this should be two wins. Detroit has suspended Dylan Larkin, so they're without their best player. Alex De Brinkett has been very good this year, but without Dylan Larkin, that's you know, he's Batman to Robin. And that's a big loss in that Detroit lineup. Is there anything that we should be looking at going into those games for the Lightning other than the fact that they need to get off to a good start and put these teams away? DeBrinkett, he's always kind of tormented the Lightning a little bit, going back to his Chicago days. If I'm not mistaken, it's something like 28 points and 30 goal and 30 games against the Lightning. So even without Larkin, you know, he's one to watch. He's he he plays with that quickness. He's got that kind of in-close quickness too. Not only is he a fast gater, but he can make quick moves, quick adjustments that can trouble some of the the defenders. So keep an eye on him. Victor Arvidson is off to a pretty good start. He was a free agent signing for the Detroit, kind of a little bit under the radar, I think. but he's put up eight goals. Six assists in 14 games. He's a point of game player right now. Yeah, he's stepped into that void you left by Larkin not playing. So kind of keep an eye on that. one of the interesting things I noted or I found out kind of and that could one of those things you forget about. since what was it, since 2021, Detroit's five, four, and one in Tampa, which is pretty good record. On the road, they haven't been the best team since twenty one. So for them to have a way to They haven't been a playoff team. Exactly. However, prior to that, dating back to 2014, they had lost sixteen games in a row in Tampa. And not just like, yeah, here's a shootout loss, here's a overtime loss. They had lost sixteen games in a row to the Lightning, in Tampa. Yikes. So yeah, just one of those little things that sticks out when you're l looking at the research and yeah, so that was kind of fun. So they're due for some more wins, I think. So You can't Justin, if you rem Justin, if you remember we had Bob Grove on when we were talking about the Flyers Penguins playoff series, and Bob and I were talking about from nineteen seventy-three to nineteen eighty-nine, the Penguins were forty and four in Philadelphia. It was still to this day, I don't think that streak will ever be touched. But Bob and I were talking about that when you brought up that number, that was the first thing I thought of. Justin on Thursday they host the Chicago Blackhawks. Now the Blackhawks started this season without their best player, Connor Bedard. Bedard has come back. He's a point of game player, but this is a team that has just struggled in every statistical category known to man. We're actually going to put up some of their outlying statistics and you can see just how bad they are. They're ranked thirtieth, thirty first, thirty second in most categories. If you're Chicago How disappointing has this season been? Because at some point you're thinking that they're going to turn the corner, but they just haven't. And they're going to ha end up with another really high draft pick this year. At what point, if you're the Blackhawks, do you say, what are we doing here? I don't think they've quite hit it yet. you know, they've made some moves this offseason. The the Bo Byron one, you know, indicates that they're ready to start. Yeah, th th they are focused on taking that next step and and and being competitive again. it hasn't worked out great yet for him. I I think he's kinda struggled with his new role, new responsibility. But that's something long term he can play into. you didn't have Connor Bernard to start the season as he was coming back from his injury. So I just think the vibes are kind of off to begin. they've been a really bad road team. I think most of the those stats you're referring to come on the road where they haven't won a game yet. They're five and one, at least when I took my notes. and that's just tough. they still have so much good young talent. I mean, they got Bedard, they got Frick Nazar. Kanceroff has been really good this year. Frondel's he's been the one guy. Yeah. Yeah, Fondel as well. I and I think you you kinda hold out a little bit of hope saying that, hey, you know, these guys are gonna turn this potential into wins at some point. I think Spencer Knight's a good goalie. I think he's gonna be fine for them. I think their defense does need a little bit of work. When you start speculating about if the Lightning are gonna trade Nikita Kucherov, is Chicago a a a place he may be interested in? They got a lot of prospects that they could come that they could deal with the Lightning. Exactly. It seems to be one of the indications is he wants to be a team that's kinda up on that's competitive but on the rise as opposed to maybe a team like the Lightning that is competitive but maybe on the decline a little bit. And you know, what would what would Nikita Kucherov not only do from a talent standpoint, but from a teaching standpoint? you know, every off season when the prospect camp rolls around, everyone there's always an article about Nikita Kucherov on the ice while the on one end of the ice while these kids are down at the other end. And then he's talking to these kids and he's showing them how to do something. Like this year it was Brain Point was practicing with him, you know, during the off season. I I I think that's part of his game, part of his nature that doesn't get reported on enough, to tell you the truth. He likes showing people how to play hockey. And, you know, going to a team like Chicago would be really interesting. Now again Again, that that's not gonna matter on Thursday. I I think at this point in Chicago, you just have to start, start with the small wins, you know, have a good road game, have a good road period, build on that, play better. There's still a lot of season left, and they can they can climb up that central division pretty quickly. so I wouldn't think. That central division, we talked about it before, is an absolute juggernaut. It is. It's going to take them a while, other than to catch Winnipeg, it's gonna take them a while to to to work their way up. Justin, it's been a busy weekend, especially with the Kucherov news. What have you been doing over at Raw Church? slowly been putting together some some stuff on on Kucherov, just some information. gonna go ahead and do a wrap up of the Lightning's numbers in October, kind of a a monthly breakdown of of how they did, where they ranked. Yeah, it was kind of one of those weekends where I wish I could have called in sick for a couple of things and just dedicated a few more hours to writing, but life is life. You young kids who are still in college, you'll learn that soon enough that you don't always have all the free time you wish you had, so use it wisely. But yeah, we'll have some of that stuff coming up. we'll take a look at the games that are coming up as well and just keep rolling. Hopefully figure out what's gonna happen. And you never know. We could announce that the Lightning sign with you know the Nikita Kucherov to a long term deal. It's not out of the realm of possibility. It's not out of the question with Kucherov because Hey, the Lightning are gonna have their feet to the fire. There aren't many people out there on this earth who can score a hundred and thirty points. They just don't exist. And I remember talking about Yarimir Jagr back in the day when he was bouncing around from team to team. And yes, he wasn't in the prime of his career, but there's very few guys who even have the ability to score a hundred and thirty, a hundred and forty, a hundred and fifty points in the season. Nikita Kucherov is one of them. You hate to see them go, and maybe this is the last year for him, and maybe he won't even last a year. But if they do move him, they're going to have to get the value for him. And as Justin said, there's a lot of teams who are going to be interested, but are they going to have the assets that the Lightning are going to want? That is all for today's podcast. We are going to be back later on this week. We're going to recap the Detroit and Chicago games. We're going to preview The road games against Minnesota and Winnipeg, back-to-back games next weekend. It's a busy week for the Bolts. with four games in six days. I'm sure we'll see Dennis Hildeby in one of those starts. So it'll be an interesting time for the Bolts. and we hope they get back on the right track. Losers of three or four, but as I mentioned in the beginning, they have points in three of their last four. So it's a very fine line between being hot and not being hot. For Justin Godfrey, who you can read each and every day at www.rawcharge.com, I'm Jason Linkis. Thanks for joining us. Please hit that like and subscribe button and go Bolts.. Go Bolts.. Thank you for listening to Backchecking the Bolts.. We are free and available on all platforms, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon, YouTube, and Deezer. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can follow Justin on Bluesky at rawcharge.com. You can follow the show on X at Tampa underscore Bolts. underscore pod and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at BackcheckingTheBolts. If you're interested in advertising on the show or partnering with us, you can find more information in the show notes or email Jason at backchecking the Bolts. at yahoo.com.