Kucherov leaves practice, Callahan status update

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 13, 2016

TAMPA, Fla. – The list of injured Lightning players may have added another one on Tuesday.

Or maybe not.

Leading scorer Nikita Kucherov left the ice about 10 minutes in to practice at Amalie Arena on Tuesday and did not return. It was unclear at the time as to the reason Kucherov left.

Kucherov appeared to leave for an equipment issue as he was having his skate blade worked on. But he went down the hallway toward the locker room and was followed closely down the hall by head athletic trainer Tom Mulligan and did not come back to the ice.
Head coach Jon Cooper (full video below) did not offer any update on the reason for Kucherov’s departure, but hinted it was injury related. Kucherov missed one game earlier this season due to an unspecified injury.

“Well I didn’t talk to the training staff, I came straight here from the coach’s room,” Cooper said. “So I have no answers for you.”

UPDATE: Wednesday, 10:45 A.M In what may be an indication that Kucherov might indeed be injured and unable to play, the Lightning recalled forward Cory Conacher from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Wednesday morning. To make room for Conacher on the active roster, defenseman Luke Witkowski was reassigned to the Crunch.

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Cooper did, however, have some answers regarding right wing Ryan Callahan, who has missed six games with an undisclosed lower body injury. With speculation starting to swirl that Callahan may have reaggravated his hip injury that required surgery during the summer and kept him out of the first month of the season, the Lightning alternate captain will travel with the team to start a three-game road trip to Western Canada.

“I’m just told what the trainers tell me and for the time being he is resting and hopefully we’ll get him back on this Western trip,” Cooper said.

Defenseman Slater Koekkoek, meanwhile, was on the ice after being called up on Monday, along with right wing Erik Condra.

Koekkoek made some critical comments about him being sent down to Syracuse, where he appeared in two games with the Crunch over the weekend, but Cooper indicated on Tuesday that the move to send the former 2012 first-round draft pick down for games on Friday and Saturday was to ensure he was getting enough playing time.

“Slater’s continuing his development,” Cooper said. “He’s taking big steps, positive steps every single year. When our D corps finally got healthy, we could afford to play him some games in Syracuse. He’s definitely part of our team. He’s coming with us out west. Our goal is to get him in and getting back helping us.”

With just one win in the past eight games and no regulation wins since Nov. 23, the Lightning are looking to get back on the winning track but face a daunting three-game trip that starts on Wednesday (Fox Sports Sun, 9:30 p.m. EST) in Calgary against a Flames team that has won six consecutive games. But Cooper continued to stress there were positive signs coming out of Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh.

“It’s been a challenge the past two weeks mentally and I know the optics don’t look good because we dropped our last two games at home,” Cooper said. “We thought we had a really good effort against Pittsburgh and unfortunately our special teams, that is what got us in trouble. We’ve had a little time to practice. We’ve had a little rest. We’re going to need that going on the road here, especially that we’re playing three in four nights.
“I think every team that we play is sitting home waiting for us for a couple of days, so we have to be on our game. But I like where our guys’ heads at. They’ve worked really hard here the last two days. Nobody wants to be in the situation that we’re in, but we are in that situation and we have to work our way out just like everybody else.”

Jon Cooper talks to the media following practice on Dec. 13

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