The Washington Capitals have officially been without Evgeny Kuznetsov since February 5 when the veteran center went into the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. This is Kuznetsov’s second stint in the program after he voluntarily entered it back in 2019 due to testing positive for cocaine at the 2019 IIHF World Championship.
There has been no news on Kuznetsov’s status as the process is kept private but Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin did give a positive update on his good friend in a recent Russian-language interview with Sport-Express’ Igor Rabiner. Ovechkin says the two have been in contact.
“We text,” Ovechkin said as translated via Google Translate. “Everything will be okay.”
Rabiner first brought up the situation by asking Ovechkin if he had any prior indication that Kuznetsov would be going into the program.
“No, we didn’t talk about this topic,” Ovechkin said. “Let God grant that everything goes well for him. Kuzya is my good friend, we are family friends. You never want something to happen to your friend that would require this.”
Under the terms of the joint NHL and NHLPA program, Kuznetsov will only return to the Capitals when he gets fully cleared for on-ice competition by the program’s administrators. As things currently stand, Kuznetsov is deemed not to be on the team’s roster and they do not need to factor in his cap hit where the salary cap is concerned.
Rabiner asked Ovechkin if he had any inside info on when Kuznetsov would be back on the ice and out of the program.
“No, I don’t know that,” Ovechkin said.
The Player Assistance Program was established in 1996 and “supports players and their families struggling with drug and alcohol dependency or mental health issues.” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery has previously expressed that Kuznetsov has the organization’s full support.
“There’s not a lot of background of what we know,” Carbery said on February 6. “There’s not a lot of background information that they share with us, other than just the fact that he’s in the program. So, for us, as an organization, staff, players, it’s just supporting him and his family as he gets the help that he needs.
“We talked about it (as a team). There’s not a lot that I can share, other than just here’s what’s going on with your teammate, your brother, a member of our family. And so it’s a lot of people that are concerned for him and his family, and that’s really where a lot of the conversations and thoughts have gone.”
