Evgeny Kuznetsov was so determined to listen to coaching concerns during the 2019-20 season that it came at his own detriment.
According to Kuznetsov, then Washington Capitals head coach Todd Reirden had requested that Kuznetsov develop a more aggressive side to his game that year. The talented Russian centerman took that to heart and tried to toss his body around early that season, and as he relayed during an interview on KHL club Salavat Yulaev’s VK channel, that didn’t go so well.
“A new coach came in and said he needed more aggression from me on the ice,” Kuznetsov said, as per a sports.ru transcript and translation by Google Translate. “The day before the game, I thought: that’s it, I’m a Canadian. I run out onto the ice, thinking I need to [hit someone]. I see some gnome skating with a puck. His name is (Alexander) Kerfoot. I wanted to skate towards him from the side, but then the whistle blew.
“I’d already picked up speed, but that bastard just dipped a bit before impact. I crashed into the side of the [boards] and broke everything on the first shift – my shoulder, my nose, my neck. I couldn’t move for six weeks after that.”
The play in question occurred during a Capitals game against Kerfoot and the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 29, 2019. Just one minute into the game, Kuznetsov saw his chance to plaster Kerfoot along the boards, but the diminutive forward got tangled up in Dmitry Orlov‘s stick and tripped to the ice before Kuznetsov could lay him out.
Instead, Kuznetsov flew over top of Kerfoot and directly into the boards near the end of the Capitals’ bench at Scotiabank Arena. He stayed down on the ice, clutching at his right shoulder until he was shepherded back to the team’s locker room by head trainer Jason Serbus.
Kuznetsov missed the next 6:57 of the first period before returning to complete the game. He ended up playing 18:18 of ice time in the Capitals’ 4-3 overtime win, firing two shots on goal and drawing a minor penalty.
Washington’s win featured three assists from Nicklas Backstrom and four points (2g, 2a) from Alex Ovechkin, including the overtime game-winning goal. Braden Holtby earned the win, making 28 saves in the Capitals’ net.
Kuznetsov did not miss any immediate time after the win, playing in 63 of 69 games during the COVID-shortened campaign. However, the harrowing experience of hurtling through the air and crashing into nothing but the boards and ice did seem to hurt Kuznetsov’s desire for more physicality throughout the rest of the year.
In those 63 games, Kuznetsov averaged 1.86 hits per game, which was a slight decrease from the 1.93 hits per game he had recorded the season prior. He then never averaged more than 1.85 hits per game for the rest of his NHL career, bottoming out at 0.74 hits per game during the 2023-24 season.
Kuznetsov finished that 2019-20 season with 52 points (19g, 33a) and added five points (3g, 2a) in eight playoff games. The Capitals were eliminated in the first round of the bubble playoffs by the New York Islanders in just five games, and Reirden was fired the following offseason.
