Nikita Kucherov Just Did Something Amazing

The Tampa Bay Lightning wrapped up their season in Boston with a 6-3 win, but this is about one man. Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov.

By scoring a goal, and registering an assist Kucherov set the single season record for points scored by a Russian born player in the NHL. Think of some of the great Russians to grace the NHL, Pavel Bure, Sergei Fedorov, Alex Mogilny, Pavel Datsuyk, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin etc. For those who are fans of the game you know how special this is.

Furthermore, Kucherov became the 18th player in NHL history to score 40 goals and 80 assists. He joins the likes of Wayne Gretzky (who did it 12 times by the way), Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Mark Messier, and more to accomplish this feat. But he is the only player to do it in the 21st century, and that’s the remarkable thing. In a time where the goalies are getting better and better and, one of the criticisms of hockey by casual, or non-hockey fans is there isn’t enough goals. Kucherov had a historic season.

Kucherov sums up everything that is good about hockey today. He’s an execptional offensive talent in the same vain of a Steph Curry. But like Curry he was questioned for size. People wondered if Curry was too skinny for the pro game. Kucherov is listed at a generous 6 foot, 15-20 years ago he would have struggled to get into the league because of his size. But today he is the leading scorer in the NHL.