Reigning NHL MVP Nikita Kucherov informed the Tampa Bay Lightning he is not re-signing with the team and has asked for a trade, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because the talks are considered private.
“We are aware of the media reports regarding the future of Nikita Kucherov with the Lightning,” general manager Julien BriseBois said in a statement. “We unequivocally have no intention of trading Nikita.”
Kucherov is set to be an unrestricted free agent after this season, the last of an eight-year, $76 million contract signed in 2018 before he helped Tampa Bay win the Stanley Cup twice, led the NHL in scoring three times and was voted the recipient of the Hart Trophy in 2018-19 and 2025-26.
“Nikita is a historically great player,” BriseBois said at his training camp-opening news conference last month. “He’s not just one of the best players in the world right now — maybe the best player in the world right now. He is one of the best players ever."
Kucherov's 1,139 points in 891 regular-season games since debuting in 2013 are third most among all players over that time behind only Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon. His 177 in the playoffs are the most during that span.
The 33-year-old Russian winger became the franchise's career points leader last weekend, passing former captain Steven Stamkos. Kucherov has four goals and 11 assists for 15 points through 12 games, second on the team behind Brandon Hagel.
BriseBois told reporters in mid-September that the goal was to get Kucherov signed to a new deal that keeps him around for years to come as part of a perennial contender. BriseBois said he and agent Dan Milstein would keep the lines of communication open to that end.
“I have every reason to believe that he’s going to remain an elite player well into his 30s,” BriseBois said at the time. “That’s been the mindset throughout these contract negotiations. Both parties, I know, would have preferred to have a deal today to be able to put that behind us. We haven’t been able to do that.”
Kucherov's anticipated departure makes him the latest high-profile star to ask for a trade in recent months, after Brady Tkachuk went from Ottawa to Florida, Connor Hellebuyck from Winnipeg to New Jersey and Dylan Larkin remains in limbo with Detroit. The others had more time left on their current contracts than Kucherov, whose uncertainty threatens to upend what has been one of the most successful runs in the league since the salary cap era began in 2005.
The Lightning have made the playoffs 12 times in 13 seasons and reached the final four times with Kucherov and Victor Hedman at the center of their core, with Stamkos, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, center Brayden Point and others cycling in and out. They also have been knocked out in the first round each of the past four years.
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Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov, right, waves to the crowd after a video presentation for Kucherov becoming the Lightning's all-time leading scorer during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Winnipeg Jets Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov waits for a face-off in the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
An experienced pilot was on a test run in a helicopter and a 22-year-old flight instructor with a student pilot from the United Kingdom were in another when the two aircraft collided midair in Oregon and crashed into a farm field, killing all three.
Details about the three victims were still emerging Friday, as the National Transportation Safety Board said a team was on its way to examine the wreckage from the previous day's crash. Law enforcement photos showed a red helicopter lying crumpled in a farm field, while a green helicopter came to rest upside down.
The crash happened around 2 p.m. Thursday on a cloudy day, a few miles east of the airport in McMinnville. The town, about an hour’s drive southwest of Portland, lies in the broad, flat Willamette Valley near the foothills of the Coast Range, in the heart of Oregon’s wine country.
Leo Rodriguez was working on a nearby barn roof at his family’s winery when the helicopters collided.
“There was an explosion mid-air,” he told KPTV. “I bent over to do something and then, boom, and I look up and the planes were already going down.”
Rodriguez said the tail end of the larger helicopter was struck, then it turned and began going toward the ground. He said the other helicopter fell straight down.
“It just happened so fast,” he said.
Few details were immediately available about the collision. The smaller Robinson R22 helicopter was on an instructional flight, according to the NTSB. The Airbus AS350B3 helicopter was on a maintenance flight, which are typically done after maintenance or repair.
The victims included 38-year-old Tyler Sturdevant, a pilot from Oregon, 22-year-old Maddie Aasbo, a flight instructor from Texas, and 31-year-old Christopher Joughin, a student pilot from the United Kingdom, Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliott said during a news conference.
Aasbo graduated from the wildlife management program of Southwest Texas College, in Uvalde, and was a member of its rodeo team from 2021 to 2023, according to a post on the group's Facebook.
The post described her as a brave, bold and independent woman who also worked for large hunting ranches in Texas and spent time in New Mexico and Alaska. In Oregon, the group said, she “had found ultimate freedom in the air as a helicopter pilot and instructor.”
“Her sudden passing has left us equally stunned and heartbroken,” it said. “It is beyond difficult to find the words worthy of a young woman of her caliber and impact-fulness.”
The owners of the two helicopters — Jerry Trimble Helicopters and Precision — both said they are cooperating with authorities on the investigation while trying to help the grieving families of the victims.
Precision, a helicopter charter and maintenance company that also helps fly drone missions for the military, said in a post on Instagram that Sturdevant was their “beloved” senior pilot.
“Tyler has touched countless lives, not only through his love of flying, but through the many pilots he mentored, encouraged, and helped along the way,” Precision posted. “His legacy lives on in every pilot he helped bring up and every life he made a difference in.”
His LinkedIn page says he worked as a pilot examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration for the past four years while continuing to work at Precision for more than 20 years.
In 2021, Sturdevant's wife, Monica Sturdevant, nominated him as a community hero on an Oregon Facebook group. She described him as a great husband and father who missed celebrating Father's Day with them that year because he was helping fight forest fires.
She also said he signed up to be an Angel Flight pilot in his free time to help transport people to important medical appointments.
“He’s not doing it for recognition, or because he expects anything in return, but simply because of his compassion for people, and I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Sturdevant said.
The U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement that it was in touch with local authorities and providing support to Joughin's family.
The Jerry Trimble school offers everything from demo flights for first-time flyers to advanced training.
Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
This photo released by the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office shows a damaged helicopter after two helicopters collided and crashed into a farm field in Yamhill County, Ore. Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Yamhill County Sheriff's Office via AP)
This photo released by the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office shows a damaged helicopter after two helicopters collided and crashed into a farm field in Yamhill County, Ore., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Yamhill County Sheriff's Office via AP)
