The NHL's Most Valuable Player Has Demanded A Trade.

There's been a trend of star players around the National Hockey League demanding trades from their current teams, but on Friday night that trend reached entirely new heights when it was revealed that Tampa Bay Lightning star forward Nikita Kucherov wanted out.

Kucherov isn't just a star he's legitimately in the conversation as one of the very best players in the entire world, and the NHL's reigning MVP as the Hart Trophy winner for the 2025-26 regular season. Not only was Kucherov voted MVP last season, but he is also a recent recipient of the Ted Lindsay Award, winning it in 2025, an awarded given to the most valuable player as voted on by the players themselves.

Add to that the fact that Kucherov has put together 3 straight seasons of 144 points, 121 points and 130 points and you have the kind of franchise player that simply does not get traded under normal circumstances.

What makes this so shocking is that Kucherov has spent his entire career as a member of the Lightning franchise, breaking into the NHL during the 2013-2014 season after being drafted by the Lightning in the second round (58th overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Unlike certain other players who have made trade demands this year, Kucherov has a great deal of leverage in his current position. Kucherov is in the final year of an 8 year deal that carries an average annual value and cap hit of $9.5 million per season. If he doesn't re-sign before the end of the season, the Lightning would risk letting him walk away as a free agent and losing him for nothing.