One restricted free agent Russian player down, one to go!
Monday afternoon the Tampa Bay Lightning announced the re-signing of 23 year old defenseman Nikita Nesterov to a one-year contract. While that closes contractual needs on defense (re-signing Nesterov was the last need to keep the defensive corps solid) there remains an elephant in the room as fellow Russian RFA, forward Nikita Kucherov, remains un-signed.
After re-signing Nesterov, #TBLightning has between $5-5.5 million of cap space left, per @CapFriendly. Still need to squeeze Kucherov in.