The Washington Capitals appeared resistant to give young players minutes during the Peter Laviolette era, but with Lavy gone, Alex Alexeyev, seemed ecstatic about his future in DC.
Spending much of the 2022-23 season as a healthy scratch and extra defenseman, Alexeyev showed promise at the end of the year while regularly receiving a lineup spot from the outgoing head coach.
Alexeyev was one of the first players to re-sign with the Capitals over the offseason, inking a two-year, $1.65 million contract on May 2 that will pay him $775,000 in 2023-24 and $875,000 in 2024-25. The Russian rearguard was a restricted free agent, meaning the Capitals could have matched any contract offer he received from another team, but Alexeyev opted to not even test the market.
An apparently jaded Kuznetsov poked fun of his teammate’s enthusiasm in a tell-all Russian-language interview with Slippery Ice that included Capitals Russian amateur scout (per Elite Prospects), Andrei Nikolishin.
“Sanya Alexeyev is so happy after the season,” Kuznetsov said per a sports.ru transcription and translation by Google Translate. “‘I have two more years.’ I say: ‘You’re a fool. Now they’ll sign someone and you’ll be the seventh [defender] to ride [the bench most] of the year’ – ‘No, what are you getting at?’
“In the end, they took (Joel) Edmundson, leaving (Rasmus) Sandin and (Martin) Fehervary. That’s three left [defensemen]. And [Alexeyev’s] signed for another two years.”
Kuznetsov then “laughs as loudly as possible” per sports.ru, which can be confirmed in the below video of the interview.
The Capitals acquired Edmundson in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on the first day of free agency, sending two draft picks north of the border for the physical, injury-prone veteran. The deal came nearly a month after Alexeyev re-signed.
New Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery has Edmundson skating on the team’s third pairing early in Training Camp with former teammate Trevor van Riemsdyk.
The Capitals’ Russian contingent seemed to believe Alexeyev was getting a raw deal from Laviolette. Kuznetsov’s former teammate Dmitry Orlov spoke poorly on the decision to healthy-scratch Alexeyev most of the year in a Russian language interview after he had been dealt to the Boston Bruins.
“I’m glad that they started to let Alexeyev play (at the end of the season),” Orlov said. “It took a long time to happen. I was against keeping him in reserve.”
Kuznetsov is close friends with Alexeyev, attending the Washington Commanders season opener with him two weeks ago.
Alexeyev spent three years playing for the Hershey Bears before receiving his first full season with the Capitals in 2022-23. Next season, Alexeyev would have to pass through waivers if the Capitals wanted to option him down to the AHL.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
