It’s No Longer Important For Evgeny Kuznetsov To Be Great It’s Crucial

Ever since arriving in DC nearly ten years ago now Evgeny Kuznetsov has been an important player for the Washington Capitals. In just his second full season in the National Hockey League, at age twenty-three he scored 20 goals and put up 77 points. From that point on he has been a key player for the Capitals.

Since then Kuznetsov has shown why he is a such an important player for this franchise in both good ways, and bad ways.

In bad ways? Lets go back to his second full NHL season. All of those points he scored, cementing himself as a great player. Then the playoffs start and he scores 2 points in 14 games. That year the Capitals lost to the Penguins in the second round.

We all know the good ways. In the 2017-18 season he put up career highs. He scored 27 goals and dished out 56 assists for a total of 83 points. He didn’t stop there. In the playoffs that year he scored 12 goals and 32 points in the 24 games the Caps played that postseason. Kuznetsov easily could have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP that year. Tie goes to the legend however and Alex Ovechkin took that award home instead.

Since then it has been a mixed bag from Kuznetsov. Some good, some bad, and a lot of playoff disappointment.

In team sports it’s never fair to give one guy too much credit for team success. It’s also not fair to put too much blame on one guy when things don’t go the way you hoped. It’s hard not to do that with Kuznetsov.

Over the years we have seen what this team is capable of when he plays his A game. They can win the Stanley Cup. They can do that because they have had Nicklas Backstrom at center as well. For the most part, you can assume Backstrom will play well and give his all. That has never been a question, even when the Capitals struggled.

With Backstrom playing well and Kuznetsov not we saw those results. For years it was second round losses or more recently it was first round losses.

However, with Backstrom doing his Backstrom thing and you added Kuznetsov playing to his top potential we saw them go all the way. Then you added Lars Eller at the 3C spot and this team was incredibly deep at center. Over the years you would also have to add Jay Beagle or Nic Dowd.

It’s always been important for Kuznetsov to play well. You could argue that at least in part the difference in the Capitals losing early in the playoffs and making a run was Kuznetsov not playing well.

This season, it’s not important for Kuznetsov to play well, it’s crucial.

Nicklas Backstrom isn’t here, at least right now, and that could be the case for the entire season. There is no team legend to bank on playing good almost every night. There is no future hall of famer either above you or below you to take some pressure off of you.

Kuznetsov now finds himself in a position that Backstrom himself was kind of in early in his career. Before Kuznetsov came to town the Capitals would have some good centers. But it was mostly Backstrom. If he didn’t play well then the Capitals had very little chance to do much.

With that the Capitals would have some good seasons. Then in the playoffs they would run into a team deeper at center or just good at defense and were able to slow down the Backstrom Ovechkin duo and the Caps would then lose.

Now that’s oversimplifying things to be sure, but still true. We saw what that did to Ovechkin and Backstrom’s perception around the league and in the media. Great players, couldn’t get it done when it mattered most.

Then Kuznetsov comes, has some average playoffs at best, but then explodes in the playoffs and the Capitals go all the way. Kuznetsov took pressure off of the big guns. Now if you stop Backstrom, you have to stop Kuznetsov too. Behind them was Eller who also was playing well and scored some massive goals in the 2018 run.

Kuznetsov doesn’t have that center depth around him anymore. At least not right now. Kuznetsov does not have Backstrom. What he does have is Dylan Strome. He has looked pretty good in the playoffs and has even had moments early this season. Yet, he is still a guy with questions. Can he answer those questions and answer them convincingly? Sure! But he still has to prove it.

Behind him you still have Lars Eller, but he has questions now too. He had a down season last season. Was that a fluke thanks to a handful of reasons? Or is that season the beginning of what he will be for the latter part of his career?

Strome is not Backstrom. Eller possibly may not even be Eller, or at least the Eller that we have come to know over the past four or five seasons. Kuznetsov needs to be great this season. If he isn’t it could be a really tough season for this Capitals team.

The Capitals have started this season 0-2. Kuznetsov has not been as noticeable or impactful as he needs to be. He has zero points in the two games and is a -3. The power play is 0 for 9 and Kuznetsov has to be a big part of that.

The power play has issues and that is for someone else to talk about. Someone has to take control of that power play though. That is not Ovechkin’s job. His job is to score to goals that his teammates set up. Someone has to quarterback that power play and, have I mentioned that Backstrom isn’t around right now? If that isn’t clear, it is when the Caps go on the man advantage.

In sports we give too much credit to players when they win. Like in football and the quarterback position. We also give them way too much blame when things go wrong. Like in football.

This season for the Capitals I really do think that this entire season could rest in Evgeny Kuznetsov’s hands. Is that fair? Probably not.

If Kuznetsov doesn’t play well then we are potentially talking about Ovechkin not scoring as much. If teams don’t have to worry about the second and third lines as much then the defense on the Capitals top line will be even tougher making it even harder for Kuznetsov and Ovechkin to carry the team.

I have written a lot about Kuznetsov over the years. I have written about how important he is for this Capitals team for years and years. This season, I am not sure important is a good word anymore. Thanks to things that have happened around him, it’s not important for Kuznetsov to have a good year. It’s crucial that he has a good season. If not, it could be the difference between playing playoff hockey and not.