Nikita Igorevich Kucherov is a Russian professional ice hockey player who is a right winger and alternate captain for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL). Regarded as one of the best players in the world, Kucherov won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player, Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer, and the Ted Lindsay Award as the best player voted by fellow NHL players in 2019. He won his second Art Ross Trophy in 2024 and his third in 2025 while also being a finalist for the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award for the second time in both years, winning the Ted Lindsay Award in 2025, and was the runner-up for the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the league's goal-scoring leader in 2017.
