The guy is talented. I would say he is more talented than any Caps player, even Ovechkin. Yes, I said it.
The production is another question. Ovechkin is a freak of nature physically, lets be honest, that's why he is who he is. Kuz is not that physically gifted.
Also I think he should NOT play with Ovechkin for the first 1-2 years (excluding PP).
McPhee/newGM and Oates/newCoach should find a way to form a good 1st line with players suitable for OV, working for him and scoring goals of rebounds. Say NO to ****ing around with some rookie to ruin OV's last powerful years.
Kuz should find his way into the league on the 2nd line. Backstrom or Grabo - I think they both can play with Kuz effectively. Grabo can talk with him in russian which could help also.
Johansson should be 3C + PP + PK. End of story.
->
newKnuble - Grabo/NB - Ovechkin
?/Fehr? - Backstrom/Grabo - Kuznetsov
Chimera-Johansson-Ward
IDK-Latta-Wilson
I believe we have 3 more RWs than we need (Brouwer/Erat/Fehr). OV should/could be removed from that side perhaps.
PS:
McPhee: We decided to not extend Grabovski and promote Beagle in top-6. Jay is a good canadian boy.
PPS: Logically its Ovechkin-C-Ward for the first line. NewKnuble isn't easy to come by.