With Three Goals In Twenty-Five Games The Capitals Need More From Evgeny Kuznetsov

Here we go again. Picking on Evgeny Kuznetsov. But when you are a star in a professional sport you get credit, both deserved and more than you deserve, and you will also get criticism in the same way. Evgeny Kuznetsov is a star, he is one of the very best players on this Washington Capitals team, and when that is the case the expectations and the bar will always be set higher.

Thanks to many reasons to be honest, Kuznetsov’s bar needs to be set higher than three goals in the teams first twenty-five games. Three goals in twenty-five games, from one of your biggest stars is never going to get it done, lets make that clear. Then you add in the most challenging obstacle the Capitals have faced this season.

This team is very beat up.

I’m not going to sit here and go through all the injuries. Most of you reading this will know the injuries and can probably recite them better than some other things we should all be able to recite. Bottom line, the injury list is lengthy.

When that is the case you need your entire team to step up. I believe it is fair to say, a lot of the team has not. We can talk about the entire team at a later date. Right now we are talking about the stars of this team, and one in particular.

We’re not talking about Alex Ovechkin. The captain and best goal scorer in the history of the game is mostly doing his thing. Scoring goals. Through twenty-six games he has scored 13 goals. That puts him on pace for a bucket full of goals at seasons end with forty-one. That almost sounds lame when talking about Ovechkin, but it is still a lot of goals.

There is another star on this team with his fair share of goals, that being John Carlson. He has 8 goals in his first twenty games, that putting him on pace for about thirty. That would be a great season for a defenseman and easily Carlson’s best goal scoring season.

Then we have the other star for the Capitals in Kuznetsov. As we pointed out earlier, he has three goals in his first twenty-five games. I understand the argument that Kuznetsov is more of a fancy and dangler of a playmaker. Having so few goals, now being more than a quarter into the season, with the challenges this team has faced is unacceptable.

Ovechkin is on pace for over forty goals, again. Carlson is on pace for a terrific goal scoring season by a defenseman. Kuznetsov, twenty-five games into the season is on pace for nine. Nine goals from a guy who even if the team is fully healthy you could argue is your second best forward.

I get on Kuznetsov a lot. I understand that. You can have an opinion on whether that is right or wrong. The Capitals have more problems than Kuznetsov right now as well. This team is injured, and, at best, this is an average team right now. Lets not act like the teams struggles are all on the shoulders of number ninety-two. They are not.

When you are a star on a team you need to step up when the team needs you most. For the most part, Kuznetsov has not done that in the last several playoff appearances, and he hasn’t done that on the scoresheet this season.

The Capitals have a lot of issues right now. Some are fixable, some are harder to correct. You cannot fix the injuries. Players are out, and they will be out as long as they need. What is fixable is the players that are playing.

There are more players than Kuznetsov that need to step up. Anthony Mantha? Of course. If T.J. Oshie stays healthy he needs to continue to chip in. Lars Eller could help put some pucks in net. Maybe a Marcus Johansson who now has one goal in his last eleven games.

When a team is struggling and struggling to find more goals it should never lie on one guy. But when one of your best players is not scoring goals and your team needs goals I would say it’s time to step up.

Kuznetsov has three goals in twenty-five games. Two of those in the same game on November 7th. The team needs him and they need him right now. He needs to pick up the pace and help his team out as much as possible. He is a star in this game, and that is what stars do.