from Matt Porter of the Boston Globe,

Social media is full of junk food, but few hockey takes are stranger than the speculation that the Lightning are keeping all-world winger Nikita Kucherov, set to have hip surgery, out for the season for salary-cap reasons. Sure, it’s possible, but no team would sit their best player unless necessary. The Bolts are hopeful Kucherov will return for the playoffs, set to begin in May.

Former NHL GM Brian Burke, now working for Sportsnet, on dealing with players (and coaches) as a GM: “If I had to hit him in a head with a 2 x 4, I hit him in the head with a 2 x 4. If he didn’t like it, he could go home. I always tell the player the same thing: ‘It’s not our job to make you fit in here. It’s your job to fit in here. And this is what you’ve got to do if you want to get more ice time. Now get out of my office.’ And so it would go like that. And if the guy didn’t come around, we’d get rid of him.”

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