Russian right winger Nikita Kucherov signs with Tampa Bay Lightning with entry level deal
Nikita Kucherov, a Russian right winger, who has represented team Russia in junior international competitions, had signed an entry-level deal with Tampa Bay Lightning, which play in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).
According to the team announcement, which was made on Monday, the forward has been signed for three years but the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by anyone from player’s representatives nor the team.
Kucherov was Tampa Bay Lightning’s second round pick of the 2011 NHL Draft, selected 58th overall.
The 19-year-old player started his hockey career in his native country Russia in 2009-2010 with CSKA-Krasnaya Armiya in Minor Hockey League (MHL). He started his career in a very good way as he had a 50+ point season to start off with. He played 53 games
and scored at an average of more than 1 point per game as he scored 29 goals, 25 assists for total of 54 points.
The next season Maikop, Russia born player got a call from Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) which is Russia’s top hockey league. He played in it for CSKA Moskva and represented them in nine games in the 2010-2011 season.
But he played most of the games of that season with CSKA-Krasnaya Armiya, as he represented them in 41 games and had a better point scoring than the first season. The 5-foot-11, 165 pounder player scored 27 goals and 31 assists for total of 58 points.
Kucherov also got a call from Russia International Junior team for under-18 World Junior Championship as he showed a great performance for them by scoring 21 points, 11 goals and 10 assists in 7 games he featured in.
In 2011-2012 season he got drafted by kept playing in the Russian league and again switched teams, playing 18 games for CSKA Moskva and scoring his first goal in the KHL, with four assists for total of 5 points and played 23 games for Krasnaja Armija Moskva
in which he scored 24 goals, 19 assists for total of 43 points. Seven points out of seven games in Under-20 World Junior Championship was icing on the cake for him.
Nikita Kucherov will play for Quebec Remparts in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) next season.
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