UNDATED (AP) — Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov is expected to be out 8-10 weeks after having surgery for an unspecified lower-body injury.
Kucherov was injured Oct. 16 in Tampa Bay’s third game of the season. He doubled over in pain after an innocent-looking collision in the third period of the Lightning’s game at Washington.
Kucherov was Tampa Bay’s leading scorer on each of the past two Stanley Cup runs. He missed the entire regular season last year recovering from hip surgery.
In other NHL news:
— Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz has met with his players a day after a report detailed how senior team leaders badly mishandled allegations that an assistant coach sexually assaulted Kyle Beach during the team’s Stanley Cup run in 2010. The ramifications now stretch into several corners of the NHL. Florida coach Joel Quenneville is slated to meet with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Thursday. Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff also is planning to talk to the commissioner. Both were with the Blackhawks when the allegations were first reported to team leadership.
