The reigning NHL MVP wants out.
But Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said Saturday that Nikita Kucherov's trade request won't affect how his team goes about its business.
"I will sit here and tell you nothing has changed in what our goals are this year just, maybe, the context of how it is going to go about. Kuch is 100 per cent a part of this team. He wants to be a part of this team for this season and he is committed to be with the group that loves him and the group he loves," Cooper told reporters.
Kucherov's trade request was first reported by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman on Friday.
The star Russian, who won the Hart Trophy last season, is due to become an unrestricted free agent after the season and has told the Lightning he will not be re-signing in addition to his ask for a mid-season trade.
"We are aware of the media reports regarding the future of Nikita Kucherov with the Lightning. We unequivocally have no intention of trading Nikita," Lightning GM Julien Brisebois said in a statement Friday.
The Lightning are back in action Saturday — coincidentally against former captain Steven Stamkos and the Nashville Predators.
Cooper said he expects Kucherov to continue playing and performing as his usual self.
"Jon Cooper will coach the team the way Jon Cooper has always coached the team and Kuch is going to play like the superstar he is and the way he has for a decade and a half and that is how it is going to continue," Cooper said.
"All the rest of it is outside noise and, for Kuch internally, what happens after our season is over, that's Kuch's right, and he has earned that right for whatever happens. For us, it probably made the team stronger."
Kucherov's production doesn't appear to have slipped amid any potential unhappiness, with four goals and 11 assists through 12 games.
The Lightning sit fourth in the Atlantic Division with an 8-3-1 record.
"What I don't want to get skewed in all of this is if Kuch turns the puck over or the play does not go exactly his way and he shows frustration or, at some point, the coach who is coaching him is showing frustration with him or somebody else on the team and, then, everybody says, 'Oh my God. He wants out.' That will not be the case," Cooper said.
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