The 5-foot-11, 178-pound forward from Moscow spent the 2011-12 season in Russia, then came to North America and played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2012-13.

Kucherov was a second-round pick (No. 58) by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2011 NHL Draft, but he has played like a first-round talent. The high point of his career came when he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's top scorer in 2018-19 with 128 points (41 goals, 87 assists), the most in a single season by a player born in Russia. He was voted winner of the Hart and Ted Lindsay trophies.

Kucherov was a second-round pick (No. 58) by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2011 NHL Draft, but he has played like a first-round talent. The high point of his career came when he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's top scorer in 2018-19 with 128 points (41 goals, 87 assists), the most in a single season by a player born in Russia. He was voted winner of the Hart and Ted Lindsay trophies.

The 5-foot-11, 178-pound forward from Moscow spent the 2011-12 season in Russia, then came to North America and played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2012-13.

Kucherov began 2013-14 with Syracuse of the American Hockey League, but he wasn't there for klong. After putting up 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) in 17 AHL games, he was called up by the Lightning on Nov. 24, 2013.

In his NHL debut the next night against the New York Rangers, Kucherov scored on the first shot of the first shift of his NHL career, beating Henrik Lundqvist in the first period. Kucherov finished his rookie season with 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in 52 games but was a frequent healthy scratch in the final weeks of the season and appeared in two of Tampa Bay's four playoff games.

Since then, however, Kucherov has been among the Lightning's most consistent players.

Kucherov broke out in 2014-15, finishing with 65 points (29 goals, 36 assists) and tying Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens for the NHL lead in plus-minus at plus-38. He followed that with 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists), including two overtime goals, in 22 Stanley Cup Playoff games, helping the Lightning reach the Final before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

After scoring 30 goals and finishing with 66 points in 2015-16, Kucherov had 11 goals in 17 playoff games to help the Lightning reach Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final before losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He became the third player in NHL history to score at least 10 goals in multiple playoff years before turning 23, joining Jeremy Roenick (1990 and 1992 with the Blackhawks) and Evgeni Malkin (2008 and 2009 with the Penguins).

Kucherov became a 40-goal scorer in 2016-17 and earned an NHL Second-Team All-Star berth after finishing with 85 points. He was named a First-Team All-Star in 2017-18 after becoming the third player in Lightning history to finish with at least 100 points in a season (39 goals, 61 assists) and finishing third in the NHL in scoring. Kucherov also had 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 17 playoff games as the Lightning advanced to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final before losing to the Washington Capitals.

His big season in 2018-19 helped the Lightning match the NHL single-season record of 62 victories, set by the Detroit Red Wings in 1995-96. Kucherov got off to a slow start in 2019-20 but finished seventh in the NHL in scoring with 85 points (33 goals, 52 assists) in 68 games.

NOTES & TRANSACTIONS