Player Discussion Evgeny Kuznetsov

[Hivemind]

This year, he has. Backstrom hasn't contributed a lot for the past 2 months, and his defensive numbers went down as well. The fact that he hasn't established chemistry with Ovi is unacceptable. Granted, Ovi deserves some blame for that as well. Kuznetsov makes everyone around him better.

Backstrom is trusted with defensive draws, tougher assignments, and is the one to carry the load in close games. Kuznetsov gets butter soft deployments against the other teams' 2nd and 3rd pairing defensemen. This isn't to mean that Kuznetsov hasn't been excellent this season, but he's being put in a position to succeed while Backstorm is grinding it out against Norris and Selke contenders.

The biggest strength this team has is that it effectively has two first lines. Whichever first line gets the easier deployment will thrive. Right now that's Kuznetsov's line.

 

[zappa4ever]

Just hope his defensive game catches up with his offensive game, he's still got a lot to learn in the D-zone

He's got all the offensive skills and creativity and vision and can string a pass as good as Backstrom but the defensive mistakes can lead straight to goals against. He's getting there but that's my biggest worry about his game. Straighten that part of his game, get tougher/stronger in the summer, get consistent on faceoffs and he'll be a Top Center in the league for a long time

 

[Whopper88]

I lost my Fantasy Hockey League playoffs by 15 points last night. Kuzy was -18 yesterday..Ouch. haha. Can't be mad, he got me to the playoffs in the first place.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Ordering my 92 sweater for the playoffs!

 

[Acallabeth]

Played like trash and was a huge disappointment.

 

[kmart]

the pressure was to big for him... he was not asked to do much in the regular season so he freelanced to 70+points.

now23yo or next year24..., what will they do with him ? surly u cant use him again in that role even if he performs again in the regular season... these days the skill players that want to carry/touch the puck for long strides have a hard time to succeed in the post season.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

Was terrible in the playoffs. If he wasn't injured, he choked big time.

Hopefully this was a learning experience for him. He'll need to learn quick because next year is probably the last year before the window is shut.

 

[Colt.45Orr]

One bad postseason and Backstrom has had how many?

 

[ovikovy817]

GMBM should sign his extension right now. Maybe the Caps will get a little discount because of the bad playoffs.

 

[Acallabeth]

One bad postseason and Backstrom has had how many?

Only one that bad.

 

[HecticGlow]

Kuzy was really disappointing - but you can extend that to Februrary or March. Why anyone thinks right now Kuznetsov > Backstrom is beyond me.

He could be mentally drained, he maybe couldn't adapt to coaching changes, could be injured. Or he's been figured out and doesn't have much more to give.

He and Richards were problems this year because they couldn't be moved to the wing, or benched. Burakovsky and Williams both played better without Kuzy, while Oshie, Ovi and Mojo struggled next to him. That's an entire role reversal to the regular season, when Kuzy was driving his linemates' game.

 

[helicecopter]

Was terrible in the playoffs.

he was far from terrible.

 

[txpd]

One bad postseason and Backstrom has had how many?

well....Backstrom had one 9 game playoffs with 2 pts. That's it.

But the real issue is not that he did nothing in the playoffs. He hasn't scored a goal except the funny bounce off the glass goal v the Flyers in 32 games. He has been unable to produce for the last quarter of the regular season and then you add the playoffs to that.

This is not about the playoffs being different than the regular season. His trouble was well underway before the playoffs.

 

[txpd]

he was far from terrible.

He was the difference between the pack of teams in the east 20 points below the Caps and where the Caps were. He produced nothing and that Caps lost. Lets say it was unsatisfactory.

 

[strungout]

He was pretty ****ing terrible.

 

[stanleycaps18]

Kuzya is joining team Russia along with Ovie and Orlov. So I guess that puts any potential injury speculation to rest. I find that more concerning than if he were injured.

 

[RandyHolt]

Kuzy takes the heat for his entire line. I am not sure it's totally fair.

Bura's offense vanished and he provided no physical presence, and no boards.

Without a late series 3 game point streak, Williams was horrible - mister minus, taking penalties galore, his value would be being discussed in a thread bump.

MJ aka the crester did little more than his PP role, and hit LeTang once when he got angry. Again, no board presence.

Kuzy is a finesse center, yet Barry used him like he uses Nick, and all the other grinderz from his Nashville days. Kuzy needed to be a beast on the boards as Barry used him, but he is not there yet. I believe Barry implemented his playoff system after the snowstorm, and Kuzy had new defensive responsibilities that others like Nick and Beagle were already used to.

 

[sycamore]

One bad postseason and Backstrom has had how many?

Don't forget that Kuzentsov was a star last year in the playoffs. From interviews I've read this is a player with enormous pride. Would not be surprised to see him bounce back after this year.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Ordering my 92 sweater for the playoffs!

Good thing I passed....

Heartbreaking and team killing no show by the kid.

 

[sycamore]

Again it is a mystery that Kuznetsov was a superstar in last years playoffs, and a total no-show in this one. Based on that I have to suspect that he was injured and we were kept in the dark about it. There just isn't another explanation.

 

[trick9]

Again it is a mystery that Kuznetsov was a superstar in last years playoffs, and a total no-show in this one. Based on that I have to suspect that he was injured and we were kept in the dark about it. There just isn't another explanation.

He fades away when teams get very physical on him, and starts thinking with a wrong mind-set. Flyers did that from the get go, sending Schenn/Gudas/White after him to give him a push after each whistle, and other guys dumping him in the corners. Penguins kept being more physical on him too, which lead to his frustration, and with the long dry spell that only made it worse. He was trying to be too cute and make sure he has empty net before shooting the puck.

That wasn't a problem year ago, because he had physical player in Troy Brouwer next to him. It was a major problem back in the day when he was used in a 4th line role.

 

[txpd]

Again it is a mystery that Kuznetsov was a superstar in last years playoffs, and a total no-show in this one. Based on that I have to suspect that he was injured and we were kept in the dark about it. There just isn't another explanation.

oh sure. there are several explainations.

1. He played more minutes this year than every before. He hit the wall.
2. Opposing coaches got enough video of him and had enough time and reason to spend resources on shutting him down and did that.

If he was injured it would have been like Backstrom last season, where he needed hip surgery that would have taken him out for the playoffs in recovery time. We will know if that is the case today.

I think the league took his game away from him and he has yet to find a new way.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

he was far from terrible.

He was far from good and he came nowhere near to playing up to his capabilities.

 

[Ajax1995]

I think he simply ran out of gas. He scored his last goal on March 1 and in the 12 games after March 18th he put up only 4 assists while going -6. Add that to the playoffs and that is 1 goal and 6 points in 24 games while going -10. Given that he is heading to to World Championship that pretty much rules out playing with an injury IMO.

Hopefully he works his tail off in the offseason and is more ready for the marathon that is the long NHL season and playoffs.

 

[g00n]

If he played in the NHL injured why wouldn't he play for his country injured? I'll wait to pass judgment.