The new season of the National Hockey League risks becoming the most difficult in career of Evgeny Kuznetsov. Not so much in terms of his personal statistics and the results of the Washington Capitals, but because of the burden that is becoming more and more on the shoulders of the Russian striker. Agree, it’s not the most comfortable state when the public has already given up on you, and you have to work hard to prove critics wrong.
Kuznetsov found himself in this difficult situation last season. Then the Russian scored 55 points (12 goals and 43 assists), remained with the team outside the playoff zone and, in terms of utility (minus 26), turned out to be the worst in the Caps lineup. Eugene faced harsh criticism from North American journalists. The media, in arguing their position of dissatisfaction with Kuzi’s play, put pressure on the Russian forward’s salary. And she — according to today's data — occupies 9.3% of the club's payroll. They say that Kuznetsov does not justify his $7.8 million per season.
All this naturally led to rumors about a possible exchange of the forward from Washington. His contract with the capital is valid until the end of the 2024/25 season, and in theory, the club can still negotiate good compensation from competitors until that time. Kuznetsov made his situation worse with one of the interviews he gave in Russia during the off-season. In fact, Evgeniy pointed out that one of the reasons for his not very successful game was health problems — the player was bothered by back pain. But for some reason this fact was not given due importance. But the American media latched on to Kuzi’s words about Peter Lavioletta, now the ex-Capitals coach. The Russian rightly noted that in the game model Lavioletta could not reveal his best qualities, which would benefit the team, but overseas such criticism was not appreciated.
Now Kuznetsov’s every action is under a microscope, any of his mistakes is discussed with particular passion and, in principle, journalists in North America do not stand on ceremony with critical statements addressed to players. “Kuznetsov has degenerated, Kuznetsov has not been the same for a long time,” — there have been a lot of such words in the American press over the past couple of months. But let’s not forget that Evgeniy comes from Chelyabinsk, and therefore he will definitely withstand such pressure.
And he is already able to withstand it.
While Washington is in search of its game under the leadership of a new coaching staff and is having difficulty clinging to points, Kuznetsov is gradually approaching the leading position among the team’s scorers. In 12 matches, the Russian scored 7 points and is second only to Tom Wilson (8) and Alexander Ovechkin (9). At the same time, Evgeniy makes a significant contribution to the Caps’ rare victories. One of them happened today. Washington faced the New Jersey Devils for the second time this season and once again outplayed the Devils. As the game progressed, the capital's team led with a score of 3:0, but almost found themselves in serious trouble when the opponent scored two goals back. Kuznetsov averted this threat.
The Russian scored a winning double. Alexander Ovechkin took part in the episode with his first goal, and Kuzya sent his second puck with a savory shot into the empty goal. 3 goals in 12 matches is already more than Ovi himself (2). Yes, yes, the main Russian sniper of the NHL has scored only two goals so far this season and has not bothered the opponents’ goal over the last six matches.
«We got the win and it's very important for all of us. The coaches will look at where we went wrong and we'll work on it. My goal against the Devils? Tom Wilson made a great pass and it was essentially an empty net in front of me . I have three goals this season — three on an open goal. Good taste, right?»
Evgeniy KuznetsovForward «Washington Capitals»
In addition, Kuznetsov, having scored two points, moved into clear seventh place in the history of Washington in terms of the number of effective actions in the NHL championship. Now Evgeniy has 558 points, but this season he will rise to sixth place, because the Russian Michal Pivonka, who is ahead, has 599 points. 40+ points is an easily overcome barrier for Kuzi.
But let’s note one more important detail. Against the backdrop of all the criticism and pressure from Kuznetsov, he is by far Washington’s best forward in terms of total playing time. Even Ovechkin doesn’t get that much (although Alexander leads in playing time with the majority, which is not surprising, because Ovi essentially works in both special teams). This means that Spencer Carbery, who the day before also did not speak very well about Kuz, still trusts the Russian center forward and knows that he is capable of bringing a lot of benefit to the team in attack. This makes me happy.