Over the summer, the Washington Capitals committed $93 million to two Russian players: Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov. While the price was steep — eight years and $62.4 million for Kuzy and six years and $30.6 million for Orly — the reward is already being reaped in year one of their deals. Orlov has blossomed into arguably the team’s best defensive player. And then there’s Kuznetsov.
During the regular season, Kuznetsov outscored Nicklas Backstrom, tallying a career-high 27 goals and 83 points. So far during the postseason, Kuznetsov is having one of the greatest playoff years for a Russian born NHL player… well, ever.
In 16 playoff games, Kuznetsov leads the Capitals with 21 points, scoring 10 goals and tallying 11 assists.
During Game Four of the Eastern Conference Final, Kuznetsov, who is currently on a seven-game point streak (5g, 7a), scored his tenth goal on a breakaway.
That point gave Kuznetsov a share of the Capitals’ all-time postseason points mark set by Alex Ovechkin (21) during the 2009 playoffs.
In a losing cause for the @Capitals in Gm4, Evgeny Kuznetsov looked dangerous again & with his goal moved into a tie atop this single playoff year franchise list pic.twitter.com/NVTbQKJQ0D
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) May 18, 2018
Kuznetsov also became the eighth Russian-born player to record double digits in goals during a single playoff year. Kuznetsov also became the fifth Russian NHL player ever to do so at age 25 or younger.
While another goal tonight would indeed be crucial toward giving the @Capitals a Gm4 win & 3-1 series lead, Evgeny Kuznetsov's 2nd period marker did put among this exclusive list pic.twitter.com/Bpkafn2Gsi
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) May 18, 2018
Now here’s the kicker. During Game Three, Kuznetsov became just the seventh different Russian-born NHL player 25-years-old or younger to record at least 20 points in a single postseason — a feat that has been accomplished just eight times in Russian NHL history.
On the bright side for the @Capitals in their Gm3 loss was Evgeny Kuznetsov scoring, giving him a team high 20 points in these playoffs & putting him among this exclusive company pic.twitter.com/DiKER6lGUB
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) May 16, 2018
Earlier this week, Sportsnet’s Kristina Rutherford published a feature about Kuznetsov’s “creative genius.”
“If he wants to be a face of the NHL — if he really wants to — he can,” Trotz said of Kuznetsov.
The challenge seems to have been accepted.
