Media Day 2025 | Nikita Kucherov

Over the years, have you changed your preparation, workout routine at all, get ready for for a season compared to say when you were rookie? Yeah. Uh, well, I used to, you know, trying to get bigger and stronger and you know how they say you’re going to jump higher, fast, run faster, but that’s that’s why I never did. But I lifted and I tried all those things, but never worked. And then I got hurt. And then since I got hurt, I stopped lifting and doing any gym activities just um you know stretching and take care of my hips and lower backs and it’s mostly like uh preventing the s uh the injuries during the season. It’s just the mobility stuff and you know stuff like that. But on and I added more on the ice. I do it more on the ice like my, you know, little things that I see in the game and that I need to be better at. And uh off the ice, it’s just 25 minutes. How much time off the ice did you take? Like a week or two before you started going? Uh well, it depends what when the ice is available. Sometimes we don’t have I mean I wish we would have our rank 24/7. that would be easier. But ever since we have to, you know, rent the ice, that’s more difficult. So, but thankfully we have such a nice uh lady, Brenda over in Brendan. She always takes care of me and you know, she always finds open eyes for me and you know, at least for two hours I can I can skate. So, that helps. Yeah. How much do you think that all the touches that you do get, you know, in this in the summertime, touching the puck, you know, working out every day, how much you think that helps you go going into the season? Well, it helps a lot. Listen, when you do something over and over for, you know, now it’s been 10 years, you just know you’re so far ahead of the rest of, you know, the most of the guys in the league. And you know that just gives me a lot more confidence in my head and when I when I play it just makes it so much easier for me. So def it definitely helps. At the end of the season you talked about being able to execute under pressure. Um was there anything you did differently this summer, you know, to work on that or is that more of just a mental thing for you? Well, I think it’s both the mental and to understand um where is the opponent and how much space you have and you’re trying to play it and uh during the practice and trying to imagine what what happened during you know this and that play. Um but you know I think it’s it’s definitely more mentally and um but I don’t know at the same time it’s a skill too. You got to be make sure it’s it’s fast enough. You can handle the puck fast. So, I don’t know. It’s kind of both. Sorry. Did anyone join you for the workouts this this off season uh on the team? And were you able to, you know, work with them? Yeah, it was a few guys. Uh Macker and you know, Haiti jumped on uh you know, Hex when he came in. Yeah, a few guys. Was there any one thing you were focusing on while you were working this summer or at several things? Um, no. I think it’s just all around the the ice, you know, this the the control in the puck and make sure I find the the open guy and see the ice better than I saw. Uh, get under control faster. Just things like that. just, you know, trying to figure out the power play and what we need to get what we need to do better and, you know, what I can do better. It’s just, you know, the little things like that. Huge. The power play didn’t have Stampos last year, right? But it had a very, very good percentage at the end of the year. How do you feel the year went on the power play? And what are you looking forward to this year on the power play? You know, we power play was bad in the playoffs. So, whatever happens during the season, who cares? You know, playoffs was bad. So, you can’t really say we’re number three when we play against a good team. we you know one for so that really took it you know I really took it personal and you know that’s something that you know you hate to see and and you’re just hungry to go back on the ice and work on things and you know why that didn’t work and why is that and so you know you you go out there and you work on the game and hopefully you know you find you know the solutions for the next year and you you know, be and be better. But obviously, not having stammer on the left side is, you know, well, first of all, you don’t have the one-time. There’s no respect on the left side. And there’s a lot of, you know, if you have a lefty, there’s, you know, they care less now, you know. So, I think we need to have the right puzzles on the power play to make sure it’s working. During the season, you can go against, you know, the top five teams and be bad. And then you go against the top bad bad teams and score a few and then all of a sudden you’re your stats are looking better, you know, and everybody forgot about the top five teams that you didn’t score. So, I think the the statistics it’s all kind of I don’t know. I don’t look at them. Um, so I think we got to do better than do in the playoffs. And going back to the power play, you know, as the architect on Sorry, I thought you was next. Okay. Um, as the architect on that, you know, you there were there were times when you moved around, you know, between the wings and stuff. is for and I know that maybe offers different different looks to an opponent that maybe they have to account for, but would you rather be in in one situation when you guys go out there on the power play? One one look I guess instead of moving kind of around or Well, like I said, when you have the right puzzles on a power play, you don’t have to move, you know, it becomes simple. But when you when you don’t have puzzles, it’s now what are we doing? You know, you go here and then everybody start moving and it’s just everybody out of their own comfortable zone and they got to get used to, you know, the new spots in the, you know, short amount of time where like, you know, some guys are not, you know, quick adjust. I don’t know, they can’t adjust quicker, some are do, but I don’t know. I I I I feel it’s it’s more difficult when you move around and you know some teams do but they you know I still think it’s I don’t like it but I would rather stay on the same you know when you have the right puzzles the right pieces on the power play it’s you you can be stationary literally so as it looks like this roster we pretty much has it looked at the end of last season right there’s not a lot of change. You’ve experienced both big changes and subtle changes. What’s the difference when there’s, you know, maybe only a small piece here or there that changes going into the new season? Can you say that again? Sorry. Yeah. In my head, you got a lot of big changes. Yeah. This year there looks like there’s small changes. You just a couple new guys are going to be on this roster. What’s the difference between a big change on your roster and just small changes? Well, the big change obviously when you lose the big players and you know you like you’re talking about Stammer big change. Well, I mean obviously last year too, right? Um well obviously when you lose the big players like that you know somebody else has to step up but can they can they step up you know but when it’s a small change the team is pretty much the same you know you don’t really doesn’t really affect in any I don’t know I mean I don’t know what how to say I wish I can say a little bit different the way I would wanted to say but I guess the camera’s here I can’t really say There’s a lot of but trust me I would I would say different I would answer it different but I don’t know I I don’t know you know when when um you know when you guys won won the Stanley Cup you know you guys oh that was a long time ago man I don’t know I can’t remember you know in terms of of you know that fine line between you guys were a cup contending team last year that ended up losing to the team that won that won the cup the past two years, you know, when you look at preparing for another season, like what is maybe that fine line in the in the playoffs of being that team that, you know, you guys were a few years ago that beat a bunch of teams that were cont, you know, cup contending teams in the playoffs versus maybe, you know, losing in in the first round to that that team that ends up. Cameras on the back. I can’t really say what I actually what I actually feel about it, but I don’t know. I I guess consistency, man. I think the consist consistency and discipline in our game and if we can’t we can’t play one game and then three games it was just like ah whatever you know that’s that’s the difference. Florida did the two whatever three years they consistent they consistently went on the on the runs and I I just found like we can never really go All right. All right. That’s enough.

Nikita Kucherov takes the podium during our 2025 Media Day.

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