Both Tampa Bay Lightning superstars are seemingly rotating in and out of the LTIR, Long Term Injury Reserve, creating speculation about the Lightning circumventing the salary cap, so I decided to play a special edition of would you rather. In this game, I will play as Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Julien BrisBois and pretend I can play one of the two franchise foundations for the remainder of the regular season, but I must put the other on LTIR. I will factor in team fit as well. Again, we will have traditional would you rather comparisons. This time, it will be team fit, overall offense, and versatility. Which would you rather play if you were the Lightning?
Team Fit
If the two megastars were in the lineup, how well would they fit? The two would be playing on a line with Tampa Bay future cornerstone Brayden Point and respected veteran Ondrej Palat, based on stats this season. We can presume ‘Kuch’ would be dominant based on his monstrous playoff performance. In the playoffs, he had a league-leading 27 assists with seven goals for 34 points, also league-leading, including a game winner against the New York Islanders, while he and the line were destroying teams. Point excelled with 14 goals, again league-leading, including a quintuple-overtime winner, while Palat was a plus-10, his career best. ‘Stammer’ is similar as he has 17 goals and assists each in 38 matches, but Point and Palat are producing at worse rates. Kucherov’s playmaking complements Point and Palat’s prowess more than Stamkos’ shooting. Thus, I award the edge to Kucherov because he, Point, and Palat scored at more exceptional rates than Stamkos with Point and Palat.
Overall Offense
Overall, both players are great offensively, and it’s undebatable. On offense, Stamkos has the better slap shot with his renowned one-timer. Kucherov has slicker speed and has a compatible shot. He can score off one-timers like Stamkos, and he has a slicker wrister. In the all-star shooting challenge in 2019, he hits all five targets in 10 seconds with about seven or eight attempts. Here, I believe it is a tie because Stamkos has a slightly better shot, but Kucherov has better playmaking, which isn’t as valuable on offense.
Versatility
Now, it comes down to versatility which Kucherov wins. Sure, both can lead teams to success, and both can take steps back and live in someone else’s shadow if necessary, but Kucherov has a better two-way game. He has a plus-128 for his career compared to Stamkos’ plus-48, and he has three 50+ takeaway seasons while Stamkos has none. Moreover Kucherov is more physical and it seems he’s much more competitive based on his physicality. In shootouts, their percentages are alike, and both have trademark moves: “No-move” and “Spin-o-rama.” I awarded Kucherov the edge because Stamkos isn’t as versatile or feisty as Kuch defensively.
Conclusion
I value both players to the maximum. Kucherov is a transformative Right Winger who is excellent all-around. Stamkos has a great shot, and he’s a creative playmaker. However, one is more valuable: Kucherov. If I were BrisBois, I would let Stamkos rest on LTIR and play Kucherov if I had to circumvent the salary cap and choose between the two franchise foundations because he is a better fit, arguably a better overall offensive player, and he’s more versatile.
I would rather have Nikita Kucherov
