Athletistic / Hockey. The NHL free agent market opens on July 1. Usually, in 2-3 days, NHL clubs delight fans and the media with dizzying deals, after which the North American league falls into hibernation and does not come out of it until mid-September, when players begin to flock to their clubs’ training camps. However, this time, Evgeny Kuznetsov brought the NHL out of its usual calm.

One of the brightest and most original Russian hockey players has often been talked about by both fans and journalists. Sometimes it was for a bad reason, but more often it was for a good reason. What reason this time is up to you: according to the Championship.com portal, Evgeny Kuznetsov has signed a four-year contract with SKA and will soon officially return to the KHL.

Become

Evgeny Kuznetsov graduated from the Chelyabinsk Traktor hockey school. He made his professional hockey debut in the 2009/2010 season, and already in 2011 he took part in the 2011 KHL All-Star Game, and also won the World Junior Championship in Buffalo (USA). After such successes, he could easily move to the NHL, where he was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 2010 with the 26th overall pick. However, Evgeniy decided not to rush and play in his homeland. Firstly, in those years, “Traktor” was a formidable force in the KHL and even claimed the Gagarin Cup. Secondly, Kuznetsov believed, not without reason, that it would be easier for him to get into the Russian national team for the 2014 home Olympics in Sochi from the KHL.

In many ways, Evgeniy was right. In the 2011/2012 season, he won the Continental Cup and reached the semifinals of the Gagarin Cup. After such a successful season, the 20-year-old Russian extended his contract with the Chelyabinsk team for two seasons and went to the senior world championship. At a tournament in Finland and Sweden, Kuznetsov, as part of the main Russian team, became a world champion for the first time. At this tournament, the center forward played 10 matches and scored 6 (2+4) points using the goal+assist system. It is noteworthy that Kuznetsov became the first world champion in the Russian national team who was not born in the USSR.

Photo source: IIHF (Evgeny Kuznetsov – third from right)

The following season, Evgeniy helped Traktor reach the playoff final. But Dynamo Moscow prevented Evgeniy from taking the final step towards his first goal, leaving him and the Bears with silver in the Russian Championship. However, the problems began.

Traktor lost some of its leaders after the final and was no longer a formidable force in the KHL. And Kuznetsov was injured in the second game of the season, leaving him out for a month and a half. It is worth noting that at the end of 2013, Evgeniy would again find himself in the infirmary. As a result, he would not be part of the Russian national team for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, and a little later he would not be able to participate in the KHL playoffs with Traktor. On this note, against the backdrop of an expired contract, Evgeniy decided to leave for the NHL.

Crossing the Atlantic

Kuznetsov made his NHL debut on March 11, 2014, in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Evgeniy made his first effective plays on March 14, in a game against the Vancouver Canucks, managing to score three assists. The Russian scored his first goal on March 25, against the Los Angeles Kings.

During the 2015/2016 season, it was announced that Evgeny Kuznetsov would be called up to the NHL All-Star Game. The Russian in the 2015/2016 season helped Washington take first place in the NHL regular season. In 82 games, he scored 77 (20+57) performance points and became the capital’s top scorer. And this, while Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom are alive.

Kuzya’s next season was not as brilliant (in 82 games he scored 59 (19+40) points), but still earned him a big contract thanks to his play. On July 2, 2017, he signed an 8-year, $62.4 million deal with Washington.

Stanley Cup

The 2017/2018 season became the most successful of his career for Kuznetsov. Capitals head coach Barry Trotz eventually moved Evgeni to play in the top three with Alexander Ovechkin, which benefited both Russians. In 79 regular season games, Kuzya scored 83 (27+56) points, updating his personal bests in goals and points.

Washington entered the playoffs as a loser: in recent seasons, the Caps have always been on fire in the regular season, but have failed to advance past the second round of the Stanley Cup. The start of the playoffs turned out to be a nightmare for Washington: the capital lost two opening games of the series with the Columbus Blue Jackets. But then the Caps did their best and were able to close the series with a score of 4-2. In the next round, Barry Trotz’s team awaited Pittsburgh.

“Washington” had a clear complex in front of the “Penguins” and was certainly not the favorite of the series. In addition, “Pittsburgh” was at that time the two-time reigning Stanley Cup winner. But this time the stars aligned in such a way that the “capital team” was destined to go further, and Evgeny Kuznetsov made a huge contribution to this. It was he who scored the decisive goal in overtime of the sixth game of the series with Pittsburgh and helped Washington overcome the curse of the second round for the first time since 1998.

Photo source: NHL

During these playoffs, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored points in 19 of 24 games. On June 7, 2018, Washington defeated the Vegas Golden Knights with a score of 4:3 and won the Stanley Cup for the first time in history. Kuznetsov became the tournament’s top scorer, scoring 32 (12+20) points and setting a new club record for points in a single playoff game.

Steep dive

Evgeniy rightfully climbed to the top of world hockey, but fell from it very quickly. In August 2019, he was disqualified for 4 years by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for finding traces of cocaine during his doping control at the 2019 World Championships. The NHL is not subject to the jurisdiction of the IIHF, so Kuznetsov continued to play in North America. However, before the start of the 2019/2020 season, Evgeniy registered for the first time in the NHL Hockey Player Assistance Program.

Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe not, but against the background of these problems, Kuznetsov’s performance has noticeably decreased, as well as his involvement in the match against Washington. With each season, Evgeniy scored fewer and fewer points and was increasingly criticized.

During the 2023/2024 season, Kuznetsov was repeatedly not included in Washington’s roster for regular season matches. And in early February 2024, the NHL announced that Kuznetsov would again go through the NHL Player Assistance Program and would not be available to participate in matches indefinitely. In early March 2024, the Russian left the assistance program, after which Washington immediately offered him to the waiver draft. According to the now former general manager of the Capitals, Brian McLellan, this was the request of the hockey player himself. However, not a single NHL club removed Kuznetsov from the draft, after which he went to Washington’s farm club, the AHL Hershey Bears.

Split from Ovechkin

However, at the deadline on March 8, Evgeniy Kuznetsov was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes. Under the terms of the trade, Washington received a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft in return and retained 50% of the Russian’s salary. As a result, the Chelyabinsk hockey graduate played 20 games with the Hurricanes in the NHL regular season and scored 7 (2+5) points. In the playoffs, Kuzya scored 6 (4+2) points in 10 games, and Carolina lost to the New York Rangers in the second round with a score of 2-4 in the series.

Photo source: Carolina Hurricanes HC

It seemed that after the relatively successful end of last season, Kuznetsov would start a new campaign as one of the leaders of Carolina, but according to rumors, this will not happen. One of the brightest Russian hockey players is about to return home.

Why SKA

In Russia, Evgeny Kuznetsov played only for Traktor. A reasonable question arises: why will he play for SKA? On July 3, 2017, the Chelyabinsk club exchanged his rights to SKA and received monetary compensation in return. This exchange took place the day after Evgeniy signed an 8-year contract with Washington. Then, many were very surprised by this move of SKA. However, perhaps now it will allow the St. Petersburg military team to integrate the main star of the entire KHL into its lineup.

***

Evgeny Kuznetsov is a high-flying bird: both as a hockey player and as a person. Most likely, for various reasons, he could not fully realize his potential, but nevertheless he reached almost all the heights of hockey. Now no one knows what could have pushed Evgeniy to think about returning to Russia, but any decision he makes must be understood and accepted. At least, he certainly deserved it with his excellent career before leaving for the NHL and already during his performance in North America.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic



Athletistic