Evgeny Kuznetsov’s first appearance with the Carolina Hurricanes is over. Carolina saw their season ended early in the second round of the playoffs by the New York Rangers this week and held their Breakdown Day media availabilities in Raleigh on Saturday morning.
Another failed playoff run has many questioning if this current Hurricanes team has what it takes to get over the hump. Kuznetsov is used to those sorts of questions after his decade-plus stint with the Washington Capitals started with constant playoff heartbreak before the club broke through for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 2018.
“That’s the thing,” Kuznetsov said Saturday. “When we won before it was super easy. Everything was clicking. Every day you come, you click. This, this, that, and when I look back it was just so exciting, so easy actually. Maybe it’s not one of those moments when we clicked yet and maybe when it’s clicking you just enjoying it every day and everybody is executing their roles and stuff like that.”
Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Jordan Staal are the only Hurricanes under contract for next season who have lifted the Cup in their careers. Behind Staal, Kuznetsov is the oldest forward on Carolina’s roster, a position he never found himself in while with the Capitals.
The 32-year-old Russian now assumes a role akin to what he’s seen players like Alex Ovechkin, Brooks Orpik, Nicklas Backstrom, and Justin Williams did on Capitals teams of the past. Kuznetsov believes it’s important to have those voices in the locker room.
“That’s why you need the older guys in the team,” Kuznetsov said. “They always help you. They know when to smile, they know when to not smile. They know when to take the team for the team event or stuff like that. That’s why we need those guys and I been always having great leaderships in front of me and the team I played before it was phenomenal older guys or younger guys they all learn from each other. That was a great experience.”
After scuffling through the first part of the season in Washington, Kuznetsov entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program in February and was dealt to the Hurricanes at the trade deadline. Although he started hot with Carolina, he cooled off later in his regular season stint, finishing with just seven points (2g, 5a) in 20 games.
The phenomenal playoff producer if the past re-found his groove in this year’s postseason, notching six points (4g, 2a) in 10 games. Kuznetsov scored the game-winning goal in Game 5 of the second round to force a Game 6 back in Raleigh. The exciting series comeback attempt, halted by four unanswered Rangers goals in the third period of Game 6, has Kuznetsov already thinking about how Carolina can take the next step, next year.
“A lot of guys have to make sure that they accept their role in the team and they execute and then just work for each other, help each other everywhere,” Kuznetsov said. “It’s impossible to change coach or 1-3 players and then think that things will turn around. No, it’s gotta be every guy and it’s hard to build that something.
“I feel like this team is going towards that when culture is about not game 56 in the regular season or stuff like that. It’s one of those when you’re like, ‘Okay we going to be in the playoffs’ and then we go. It’s one of those when you don’t waste your energy and you don’t walk happy when you win game number 53, 6-1. You come back, you keep working, and know what’s your goal.”
Kuznetsov has one season remaining on his current contract, costing the Hurricanes $3.9 million against the salary cap. Washington retained 50 percent of the final year in the deadline deal.
Carolina has already taken the first step of their offseason, extending head coach Rod Brind’Amour for five more seasons. Brind’Amour, a Cup champion with the Hurricanes as a player in 2006, has been with Carolina since May of 2018. He is the fourth-longest tenured coach in the NHL.
