Ryan Mcdonagh Speaks On The Nikita Kucherov's Injury Controversy
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S. HarperSeptember 2, 2022 (11:13 PM)
The Tampa Bay Lightning were on top of the world winning back to back Stanley Cups and were looking to three-peat this season until they were knocked off their throne by the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley cup final in six games.
When the Tampa Bay repeated as cup champions back in 2021 there was alot of controversy regarding their win and how they might of twisted the rules to give them a unfair advantage. Dougie Hamilton brought up the fact along with New York Islanders Matt Barzal brought up the fact the Lightning were $18 million dollars over the cap limit during the playoffs.
The reason why was Lightning's Nikita Kucherov missed the entire season with an apparent injury that many believed Kucherov wasn't really injured but instead he just laid rested until the playoffs began. Using a stipulation to help the Lightning have a advantage come playoff time.
It prompted fans and other teams around the NHL to wonder if Kucherov was truly injured that badly? including the host of the "Dropping The Gloves" podcast host John Scott who would former Lightning defenceman Ryan Mcdonagh who was a guest on the show.
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McDonagh was traded to Nashville this off-season with the Lightning being in salary cap trouble McDonagh shared the truth on his former teammate's situation.
This is what McDonagh revealed on the podcast:
I can honestly say : I was training with him in the gym Three-four weeks before the camp had started and he was falling over after some squats and at times complaining about his hips and his groin. Anybody who knows Kucherov knows he loves to skate like three or four hours a day and being in the gym for 30 minutes, and so when he wasn't on the ice and being able to do the things he likes to do cause he's in pain, we knew something was going on. He tried to train and rehab through and make it do away, but it wasn't obviously successful. It just happened to be, because we were on a short summer there and after all the bubbles and what not, and trying to figure out his health situation and it was kind of chaotic the way everything was going on. He had to have that surgery to be able to play and do what he did, and he did. It was very ironic that it was a couple days before camp but he was honestly hurt. He went under the knife, he was not lying. - Ryan Mcdonagh
Whether or not you agree with McDonagh's explanation one thing is clear the NHL needs to fix this so no other team gets a unfair advantage over anyone else. It's very questionable if the Lightning would of actually repeated as champions if they didn't have a $18 million dollar advantage over the other 15 playoff teams.
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