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WATCH: Nikita Kucherov appears unimpressed after being grilled by comedian at NHL Awards
Tampa Bay Lightning alternate captain Nikita Kucherov was present at the 2024 NHL Awards on ͏Thu͏r͏s͏d͏a͏y at Fontaineblea͏u ͏Las Vegas. As part of the ceremony’s festivities, American comedian and host Matt Friend tried to grill the Lightning forward, which did not seem to have impressed Kucherov.
Before the Hart Trophy winner was announced, Friend walked to where Kucherov and his wife Anastasiya were sitting. The comedian made jokes about Kucherov looking like “number one bullcrap” and commented that the player sounded more Russian on YouTube.
He then mentioned that this year’s award could be Kucherov’s second Hart Trophy and asked where the Russian kept his first. The Tampa Bay alternate captain said that he kept the trophy in his office. The American comedian made more sarcastic comments, praising Kucherov’s “enthusiasm” in answering the questions.
He then asked the forward for his predictions for the next season. In response, Kucherov said that they would try to win the Stanley Cup next season and Matt Friend closed the interview with another sarcastic comment about his short answers.
Kucherov seemed largely unimpressed with the jokes and answered the questions with cold and barely audible replies.
Fans react to Matt Friend grilling Nikita Kucherov at NHL awards
Nikita Kucherov wasn’t the only person annoyed with the American comedian’s jokes. Fans also criticized Matt Friends' “cringe” attempt at humor and criticized him on the internet.
Following are some fan reactions from X/Twitter:
“The NHL just followed up one of the best seasons it's had in awhile with absolute cringe. Someone is getting fired.”
“But the interviewer is cringe. Is that a fake accent? Because that's pretty rude to be mocking his accent. It's no wonder why Kucherov responded like that,” wrote one fan.
“This host was not funny. Tried too hard and I don't even know who he was,” commented another user.
Meanwhile, some fans believed Kucherov could have played along a little better. Some fans were unimpressed with the Lightning forward’s cold attitude during the award show.
“idk why hockey players gotta be so stale all the time 😭”
“Shocking, he's always been such a good sport in all other contexts, why would they ever think this wouldn't go amazingly?” commented one user.
“Why does he bother even going if he doesn’t want to be there. Not doing anyone any favours with that attitude. Bad look all around,” wrote another fan.
Despite the nomination, Nikita Kucherov did not win the Hart Trophy. It was Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche who took home both the Hart Trophy and͏ the T͏ed Lindsay Aw͏ard. Kucherov, however, collected the Art Ross Trophy as top scorer of the 2023-24 regular season.
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