Could fumbling Kucherov situation cost BriseBois his job?

Nov 2, 2026, 16:00 EST

Could fumbling Kucherov situation cost BriseBois his job?

Credit: © Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Lightning are knee-deep in off-ice drama after it was reported forward Nikita Kucherov has requested a trade from the club.

While many have asked what kind of return the Lightning could get and how they should handle the situation, one angle that hasn’t been discussed is what could happen to Tampa Bay general manager Julien Brisebois, who faced a similar situation with former captain Steven Stamkos years earlier.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the Kucherov situation and look at Brisebois’ recent history of trades and signings, and if he could be on the hot seat this summer.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Considering the fourth first-round exits, if Julien BriseBois fumbles this Nikita Kucherov situation, could he be a GM who is on the hot seat? Again, to kind of bring things into full circle on the show, I get that Brisebois wants to be the tough “line in the sand” GM.

He let Steven Stamkos, the face of the franchise, the captain of the team, he let him walk because he wasn’t going to pay him a dollar more than he thought was worth it. But I just think this is so different: You absolutely can’t let Nikita Kucherov walk for nothing in July, especially with the aging corps of your team.

At some point, you need to think: “How do we reimagine this current group?” I think moving on from Kucherov, I love the idea of getting some assets and trying to go get a piece like Dylan Larkin who is making $8.7 million, and now you have another $10 million or so to go get other assets, instead of giving that extra money to Kucherov.

I think Brisebois’ stubbornness is potentially going to hurt this franchise.

Carter Hutton: I agree, and I think this is a factor that he’s going to be judged on for his legacy. This is a guy who came in for Steve Yzerman, who kind of got handed the keys to the castle when they were winning … there’s been so many players that went into the Tanner Jeannot trade and other deals that have gone on. But the Lightning haven’t been able to get past the first round since 2022.

Tampa Bay has got that “free pass,” right? Do you not feel that way that we give teams a pass. I know we bring up the Stamkos deal, but Stamkos is still scoring and producing. It’s not like he went to the Nashville Predators and sucked. So Brisebois need to know that he’s going to be judged based on how he handles this.