Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov is expected to miss the entire regular season because of a hip injury that requires surgery. General manager Julien BriseBois ruled out Kucherov on Wednesday for the 56-game season that begins Jan. 13 and ends May 8. Kucherov played through a groin injury in the playoffs on the way to helping the Lightning win the Stanley Cup in late September. BriseBois said Tampa Bay had the framework of a contract in place with Cirelli. Without Kucherov's injury, Tampa Bay likely would have needed to trade a key player to get under the $81.5 million salary cap that's flat in light of the pandemic.

Source: Fox News December 23, 2020 23:37 UTC