Tampa Bay Lighting head coach Jon Cooper provided updates on the statuses of forwards Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson on Monday.
INJURY UPDATE: Cooper said 50/50 chance that Johnson will be in the lineup for opening night. He’s “more optimistic” Kucherov will be ready to go.
— Caley Chelios (@CaleyChelios) October 1, 2018
If we guess based on that statement that Kucherov will be ready and Tyler Johnson will not, that opens up a hole on the right wing in the top nine. Yanni Gourde seems the obvious candidate to slide into Johnson’s spot on the second line with Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat.