The Tampa Bay Lightning placed forward Nikita Kucherov on long-term injured reserve Tuesday, according to CapFriendly.
This guarantees the Russian superstar will miss at least 10 games and 24 days. It also means the $9.5-million average annual value on Kucherov's contract won't count against the cap for the time being.
Kucherov departed Saturday's game against the Washington Capitals with what appeared to be a lower-body injury after colliding with Garnet Hathaway.
This does not look good 🥺@TBLightning's Nikita Kucherov leaves the game. pic.twitter.com/O6vhhXlVS2
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) October 17, 2021
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said Monday that the ailment is "definitely not a day-to-day thing" and that Kucherov is "going to be out for a while."
Kucherov spent the entirety of the 2020-21 campaign on LTIR while recovering from offseason hip surgery, allowing the Lightning to stay cap compliant without trading away any key players. He returned for the playoffs and helped guide the Bolts to their second straight Stanley Cup.
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