Washington Capitals Player Preview: Evgeny Kuznetsov or Bust

The Washington Capitals‘ 2021-2022 season has yet to officially begin, but as we approach puck drop on October 13th, one thing has become abundantly clear. Evgeny Kuznetsov is the key to the team’s success.

“We won the Stanley Cup because we had a great one-two punch [Backstrom and Kuznetsov] and Eller in the third spot. Center depth is important,” Brian MacLellan explained. “We need him [Kuznetsov] to play at his highest ability and if he can’t play at his highest ability, we’re not going to be a good team and we’d have to make some other decisions.”

That was the Capitals’ general manager, Brian MacLellan earlier this year when he was asked about the recent inconsistent play of Evgeny Kuznetsov. B-Mac was right then and he’s even more right now. With Nicklas Backstrom‘s health in-question, Kuznetsov needs to live up to his potential like he did in 2018 when he scored a career-high 27 goals and added 56 assists. The impressive preseason play of Hendrix Lapierre and Connor McMichael is promising, but at the end of the day, you need significant production out of a player like Kuznetsov who has a cap-hit of $7,800,000. Even with Backstrom healthy, the Caps need Kuzy. Without Backstrom, the Capitals are relying on Kuznetsov to not only perform to his capabilities but also set an example for the team’s younger centers.

Coming off a rocky two-year stretch, where the ultra-talented Russian center found himself suspended from international play, benched by his head coach and  testing positive for COVID-19 twice, Kuznetsov is definitely looking to turn the page and look to the future. To his credit, he seems to be doing just that.

During the preseason, Evgeny Kuznetsov looked like a different player than we’ve seen in recent years. Kuznetsov has scored a goal and added four assists in four preseason games but more importantly than that, he looks happy, he looks engaged and he’s competing hard on every shift. A season ago, it appeared that head coach Peter Laviolette all but took away his privileges to take defensive-zone draws. This year in the preseason, Laviolette has him on the penalty-kill.

Kuznetsov seems to have gained the confidence of his head coach heading into the 2021-2022 season. 

“Evgeny and I have had about as honest a conversation as you can have since I’ve been here,” Peter Laviolette said. “He’s in a really good spot right now, he looks extremely fit, healthy, ready to play. I think his mind is in a really good spot and we’ll be counting on him. He’s really gonna get an opportunity to take hold and show what he can do.”

Evengy Kuznetsov, knows that last season was not a season that he wants to let define his career moving forward.

“It was one of the years you want to forget but at the same time you want to remember,” Kuznetsov said. “It is like when you lose the game in the playoffs or any Game 7, you sit in the locker room and feel that pain and next year you don’t wanna feel that pain again so you can use that as motivation, you can use that as a target, as a goal.”

Talk is talk, but so far, Kuznetsov is backing it up with his play on the ice. Don’t be surprised if Kuznetsov breaks his career-high of 83 points that he set back in 2018. A year like that from Kuznetsov couldn’t come at a better time for a Capitals team that is relying on him to help take them deep into the playoffs. The core isn’t getting any younger, the time for the Capitals to capitalize and win another cup in the Ovechkin-era is now.