'Art on Ice': Behind Nikita Kucherov's MVP-level masterpiece of a season (2024)

Pat Maroon took about a month off after the Tampa Bay Lightning’s rare first-round playoff exit last season, and nobody blamed the rest of the players for doing the same.

The group had just been through three straight Stanley Cup Final runs, so an extended offseason — albeit disappointing — would be a welcome recharge.

Well, for everyone except Nikita Kucherov.

One week after the Toronto Maple Leafs eliminated Tampa Bay, Kucherov was back on the ice at TGH Iceplex in Brandon, Fla., back at it in his endless quest to master his craft. Maroon had never seen commitment like this and marveled when he and his teenage son Anthony joined Kucherov for his one-man clinic.

The way teammates describe it, Kucherov starts by taking 60 rimmed pucks off the boards, often on his backhand. He’ll make 100 passes. Then comes 40 zone entries. Rinse. Repeat. He’ll work on his shot, his stickhandling, his edges and many other subtle aspects of his game.

It’s been said that great players learn to work past boredom, and that fits Kucherov perfectly.

“The little things that probably don’t matter to most people matter to him,” Maroon said.

“You hear a lot of Michael Jordan stuff and how relentless he was — he always wanted to be better,” said longtime Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. “You find a lot of that in Kuch.”

Kucherov, 30, is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and won the 2018 Hart Trophy. The only other players in NHL history to rack up 90-plus points over the course of three straight postseasons are Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

“I call him ‘Art on Ice,’” said former teammate Blake Coleman.

But those who have played with and against Kucherov during his career believe this season has been his masterpiece. It’s not just his league-leading 90 points in 53 games (which make him the sixth player in the past 30 years to reach that mark in 55 games or fewer, along with Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Wayne Gretzky). It’s that the Lightning have been more vulnerable than even before during their near-dynasty decade run due to injuries and salary-cap departures. Andrei Vasilevskiy missed the first month and a half due to back surgery and took time to get back up to speed. The depth isn’t what it once was.

If there was ever a year for Kucherov to be named the league’s most valuable player — no offense to Nathan MacKinnon or McDavid — this is the one.

“On most nights, he carries us,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

“We wouldn’t even be in the playoff picture without his production,” captain Steven Stamkos said.

“He dominates every night,” defenseman Victor Hedman.

“The best he’s ever played,” Sergachev said.

With Kucherov (90 points in 53 games) and MacKinnon (87 in 54) going head to head Thursday in Tampa, the debate over who is more deserving of the Hart Trophy will naturally continue and take center stage. MacKinnon is No. 1, Kucherov No. 2 in the betting odds right now, via BetMGM, and both rank near the top of The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn’s net-rating list:

“People need to talk more about Kuch,” said Maroon, now a Minnesota Wild winger.

“He’s going to be a tough guy to beat, that’s for sure,” MacKinnon said at the All-Star Game earlier this month. “He’s one of the smartest players, if not the smartest, in the league. I definitely admire his game a lot. I think he’s very different from my game, and I can take a lot from it — the way he can slow things down. He’s got no pulse. It’s like he knows what the right play is every time.”

“I don’t have the shot like (Auston) Matthews. I don’t have Connor McDavid’s speed. The flashy things people talk about,” Kucherov told The Athletic last year.

Kucherov’s superpower is his hockey sense, which teammates say is off the charts. Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern compares him to Albert Einstein. Former Lightning assistant Derek Lalonde, now the Red Wings head coach, calls him a wizard. Reading the game is not flashy, or “sexy” as Kucherov once put it, but it gives him a distinct advantage on the ice.

“The common fan or someone watching the game will say, ‘Oh that guy has a ton of skill,’” said former teammate Zach Bogosian, who has also played with Jack Eichel, Matthews and, now, Kirill Kaprizov. “But the way he thinks the game is like no one I’ve ever been around. He’s always one step ahead. When you put a guy with his skill set with the brain he has, that’s the player you get.”

The creativity was taught at a young age from games of handball and soccer, where Kucherov was encouraged to pass and get open. To always be moving. The countless conversations with his youth coach in car rides to and from the rink on hypothetical situations.

But Kucherov said he really picked up his hockey sense as he matured in the NHL. Being teammates with Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis early in his career provided a spark to be a sponge.

And Kucherov is still a student of the game. He’ll watch clips on his iPad of every shift of Patrick Kane, one of his favorite players. He’ll take parts of Eichel’s or Leon Draisaitl’s game and he’ll incorporate them into his own, or experiment with them during the summer or before practice. “I take a little bit from everybody, and it builds, builds, builds,” Kucherov said. “When you study, you have a bigger library.”

Those countless reps of receiving a rim off the wall or making a backhand pass in the empty rink over the summer become like muscle memory when it matters the most.

“He’s already made up his mind when the puck comes to him,” said Lightning color analyst Brian Engblom. “He’s going to pass it, or he’s going to hold on and let other guys come to him. Only (Sidney) Crosby can pass it on the backhand like Kuch does. Nobody makes as many backhand passes as him. He’s got zero fear.

“He’s always trying to add another bullet to his gun.”

Kucherov said he tries to know every defenseman, their best ability and where they’re not comfortable. That way, he knows where to put the puck — in the spot where the defender is weakest. “Maybe some guys go out drinking,” he said. “I just want to watch the shifts.”

Where does that hockey sense show up most? He puts it this way:

“I don’t have the speed, right? I don’t have a crazy shot. I don’t have shiftiness like crazy,” he said. “There’s nothing I can be the best in for those abilities. I don’t have it naturally. I can’t jump 45 inches. I’m like a 25-inch vertical. I had to use my brain.

“That guy that’s in the gym? I know he’s going to fumble the puck. I’m going to go after him and he’s going to give me the puck.”

“You look at all the best players in different sports, they consistently work on their skills, and same here. Be better than you were yesterday. That’s the mentality that should be for everybody else but it’s not. Everyone is spending more time in the gym than on the ice. My mentality is to be on the ice more than anyone.”

Luke Schenn laughed as he told the story of when he learned why Kucherov is one of the best in the world.

It was around dawn the morning after the Lightning won their second consecutive Stanley Cup, back in July 2021. The entire team was in the backyard of Stamkos’ 8,500-square-foot waterfront home, having been partying since leaving a Champagne-soaked Amalie Arena dressing room around 3 a.m. Kucherov was chatting with Schenn and Stamkos’ dad, Chris. Kucherov had played through a cracked rib since the end of the Eastern Conference final, one of many Tampa Bay players beat up through the grind of winning back-to-back.

“You going back to Russia?” Schenn asked.

“No, I’m staying here,” Kucherov said.

“To hang out?” Schenn said.

“No,” Kucherov said. “I start skating in two weeks.”

Schenn was stunned. The season had been over for barely 10 hours. Kucherov’s Bud Light-fueled press conference was still going viral. But the star who had just led the playoffs with 32 points following hip surgery wasn’t satisfied.

“I think I can be better,” Kucherov said. “I need to be able to dominate more.”

The transformation of the Lightning doesn’t happen without the transformation of Kucherov. And Cooper has been there the entire way as the All-Star winger’s only NHL coach. He’s watched the second-round pick burst onto the scenes as the driver of the “Triplets” line during the 2015 run to the Final. He has been awed by Kucherov and ticked off, too. One time Cooper benched Kucherov during overtime of a home game against the Ottawa Senators, then brought him into his office to show him why. But Kucherov’s historic 128-point, Hart Trophy performance during Tampa Bay’s 62-win regular season in 2018 wasn’t nearly as motivating as when he got suspended for one game during their first-round sweep by Columbus.

It was, as Cooper put it, a “defining moment” for Kucherov.

“I think Kuch took that to heart,” Cooper said. “Ever since then, he’s rounded out his game. The one thing I don’t think people understand about him is he takes a week off after the season and is right back on the ice. He spends hours and hours refining his game. It’s unlike anyone I’ve ever seen. It’s to the point where you go to him and say, ‘Can you take some time off?’

“He doesn’t want to lose his edge. Doesn’t want to lose anything. Doesn’t want to take a step back in his career.”

As many highlight-reel plays as Kucherov delivers, Cooper thinks about how many times the winger goes into corners with much bigger defenders and comes out with pucks. How he thinks the game two or three steps ahead. How he has earned the “A” on his sweater as alternate captain.

“His compete is elite,” Cooper said. “You throw in his talent level. This is the best hockey I’ve ever seen anyone play under my watch, and I’ve been very fortunate to coach some brilliant players.”

Ask Lightning players and staff for their favorite Kucherov moment this season, and they have to think awhile. Several point to Kucherov’s slick, no-look backhand pass to Brayden Point in Boston in January. Others his six-point night in Carolina in November. Others a goal in Edmonton where he seemingly had zero options but found a way to score.

But Cooper will always remember Kucherov’s first shift in a November game against Montreal. The release on his one-timer goal was so quick, so effortless. “The puck came out of the net so hard it felt like it made its way to (the) center ice dot to be dropped,” Cooper said. “I don’t think any of the guys got out of their seats to cheer. They were all like, ‘Did I just see that?’ It was one of those types of moments.”

Coleman said there are times when Kucherov looks like he’s just going through the motions (insert All-Star Game skills competition joke), but that’s also what makes him so good — how he slows the game down. Behind the scenes, he’s as competitive as teammates have seen.

“The guys people talk about, it’s usually guys with blazing speed,” Coleman said. “It’s more catch-your-eye type of thing. Kuch does a lot of little things that not everyone notices — but they show up on the scoresheet.”

This year, that is to a tune of 90 points and counting — 74 percent of which are primary points. That’s a point on almost half of the Lightning’s all-situation goals, which leads some of the other Hart Trophy favorites like MacKinnon, McDavid, Matthews and Quinn Hughes.

“A pretty efficient 200-foot player that I don’t think gets enough credit,” said Lightning forward Tyler Motte. “So good at so many things.”

“He’s the best player in the game right now,” said veteran forward Austin Watson. “What he doesn’t do that maybe (McDavid and MacKinnon) do, they overwhelm you with speed. What Kuch does is he out-thinks and quite honestly plays the game a step ahead of you. He might not get the visual effect of blowing by guys. But if you really sit down and watch tape, the things he does out there are special.”

Kucherov doesn’t put himself out there media-wise, so it can be tougher to get the attention. When approached for a recent interview, Kucherov smiled and said every time he talks to the press, he doesn’t play well and the team loses. But when Kucherov lets his guard down and talks about the game and how he approaches it, it’s a window into the world of a very unique player.

“If Kuch played for a Canadian team, he might be the guy that’s on the EA Sports cover,” Cooper said. “But if you took a players poll, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t a top three of MVP voting for all players.”

Indeed, he finished third for “best player in the league” in The Athletic’s polling of nearly 200 players this season:

When told teammates and coaches believe he’s playing better than his 2018 Hart Trophy season, Kucherov shrugs his shoulders. “I play the same way,” he said. “It’s for you guys to judge. I’m just trying to go out there and do my work. It’s good to hear people saying it.”

Kucherov said one difference this season is he’ll shoot from anywhere — red line, blue line, etc. His 224 shots on goal are around 50 off his career high (which came in his 2017-18 MVP season) with just under 30 games to go. When accounting for minutes played, Kucherov’s shot volume and quality are both the highest of his career, and he has the results to back that up with a personal best pace of 1.75 goals per 60 minutes.

That’s especially clear at five-on-five, with Kucherov attempting a career-high 20.7 shot attempts per 60. Pair that with his excellent playmaking — according to AllThreeZones’ tracking, he has set up his teammates with 15.4 primary passes per 60, which is among the best in the league — and he’s a bona fide dual threat, more than in years past. His game-changing play is driving the Lightning’s offense in his minutes to a level the team can’t come close to replicating when he is on the bench (as pictured below on the right), making clear how pivotal he is in Tampa Bay still being in the playoff picture.

Via HockeyViz

Teammates believe Kucherov took it on himself to be more aggressive, especially knowing Vasilevskiy was going to miss a big chunk of the start of the season.

“He’s more selfish,” Sergachev said. “Exactly what we need him to be.”

Like Maroon, Sergachev joined Kucherov for summer workouts about a month or so into the offseason. It’s not that Kucherov takes zero time off, but he’ll put in regular five-days-a-week sessions for most of the summer. Sergachev’s Jordan comparison wasn’t just about Kucherov’s skills or place in the game; it was about the commitment.

“If guys were missing a skate with him, he’d tell them, ‘You miss one more skate, you’re done. We’re not skating anymore together, so find another partner,'” Sergachev said. “That’s how it works with Kuch.”

Kucherov may be driven to be the best in the world, but he doesn’t bristle when other names like McDavid or MacKinnon or Matthews get more attention.

“He’s actually happy people talk about hockey players and hockey in general,” Sergachev said. “I don’t think he ever says ‘I get (ticked) off’ because he needs to be talked about more for what he does. I feel like people will understand that he’s one of the best hockey players to ever play the game sooner or later. Whenever he’s done playing, he’ll be in the Hall of Fame, for sure.

“It’s just a matter of time.”

— Shayna Goldman contributed to this report. Data via AllThreeZones, HockeyViz and Evolving-Hockey

(Photo: Andrew Bershaw / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)