Evgeny Kuznetsov
To me, this could be the most important player on the Capitals. We’ve already said it plenty of times. We don’t have to worry about Ovechkin and Backstrom and Holtby. They have proven time and time again, they show up when it matters. Kuznetsov, really, has not proven that.
The one year he showed up all playoffs long guess what happened? The Capitals won the Stanley Cup. That year, he could have, maybe even should have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. It came down to him and countryman and captain Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin won the playoff MVP with 15 goals and 27 points in 24 games while Kuznetsov had 12 goals and 32 points in the 24 games. His 32 points led the playoffs that year.
The years before he took his playoff game to another level he had 7 points in 14 games in 2015, 2 points in 12 games in 2016, and 10 points in 13 games in 2017. Then he exploded in 2018 and Washington went all the way.
If Kuznetsov is going good he opens up Backstrom and eases the pressure on Backstrom and Ovechkin. With the teams top two centers going at the same time it also opens up Lars Eller and his third line to take over. If your teams top three centers are all performing well it creates match-up nightmares. Not to mention the Capitals fourth line has been very good all season making things even worse for the Caps opposition.
The problem with Kuznetsov is he tends to take himself out of the game. He was one of the many that was invisible during last years short playoff run that ended in the first round. He did have 6 points in the seven games, but just one goal. He also has 52 points in 63 games so far this season. Some pretty good numbers. They’re below what he’s capable of though, and he has been very up and down, and quite frankly, mostly down this entire season.
He has all the skill in the world, the will just isn’t always there. He’s even said it himself how “it’s not his style” to be an MVP in this league because you have to work hard and play hard all year. That’s not that uncommon honestly. It’s just more infuriating when you see a player as talented as number 92.
As long as the Capitals have the center depth they have right now they will be Cup contenders. But you can’t have one of those centers take themselves out of games as often as Kuznetsov does. Teams get a lot easier to defend that way. If he can recreate what he did in 2018 I guess I’d just have one thing to say to teams that have to play Washington in the postseason. Watch. Out!