“Never look backwards or you'll fall down the stairs.”
-- Rudyard Kipling
As the Washington Capitals were celebrating their Stanley
Cup victory on the ice at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas last June, the votes were
being tabulated for the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player
of the postseason. Evgeny Kuznetsov, who
some thought should have won it, did not, but he did get five of 18 first-place votes and 13 second-place votes.
Valuable he was. And what management,
teammates, and fans might have hoped was that his performance in the 2018
postseason would be a springboard to a big season in 2018-2019, propelling him
into the elite-of-elite strata of players in the NHL.
By that standard, and it is a high one, Kuznetsov fell short
in 2018-2019. His regular season numbers
were down from last season in goals (from 27 to 21), assists (56 to 51), and
points (83 to 72). It was part of what
has become a bit of an unsettling pattern with respect to Kuznetsov. He seems to take a step (from 2014-2015 to
2015-2016) forward, but then he inches back (from 2015-2016 to 2016-2017). Another leap forward, as in two seasons ago,
and another step back, such as this season. Given that he gets largely first-line minutes and top power play ice time, one
might reasonably hope for more.
His 2018-2019 season fit that pattern in his ten-game
segments. He blasted out of the gate,
going 5-10-15 in his first ten games, posting five multi-point games in that
segment. However, he regressed
thereafter, going his next four segments without hitting double digits in
points. Part of that was the product of
his sustaining a concussion on this play in a game against Winnipeg in
mid-November:
He missed the remainder of that game and the next six
contests. However, he did come back
blazing after that, going on an eight-game points streak upon his return to the
lineup. Perhaps there was a delayed
effect of his injury and absence, but for whatever reason, Kuznersov’s point
production dropped considerably once that streak ended. In his last 50 games he went 14-27-41. That is certainly a respectable level of
production, but for a player seen as having elite skill, being tied for 40th
in the league in points over that span was a step back.
Fearless’ Take… For all the fits and starts to his season,
Kuznetsov still finished the year with 51 assists, the third time in his career
– third time in four seasons, in fact – that he finished with 50 or more
assists. Only teammate Nicklas Backstrom
has more 50-plus assist seasons over the last four years (four) than Kuznetsov
(tied with five other players). And, for whatever inconsistency he might have
displayed on a year to year basis, Kuznetsov now stands fifth in franchise
history among the 102 skaters dressing for at least 200 games in assists per
game and 15th in points per game having not yet reached his 27th
birthday.
Cheerless’ Take… All
that is nice, but this is a player in whom the team has made a $62 million
investment over eight years. His cap hit
is $1.5 million more per season than Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, who is one
off the league lead in postseason scoring through Monday and has had
consecutive 90-plus point seasons. One
has to think Kuznetsov has another level he hasn’t tapped yet. And yeah, Peerless harps all the time about
faceoffs, and yeah, they don’t matter much in the larger scheme of wins and
losses. But it can be an indicator of
one’s respect for one’s craft. The gold
standard for that sort of thing is Sidney Crosby, who might be the most
ruthlessly self-critical player in the history of the sport, focused on making
strong those things that he might see as weaknesses – shooting, defense, and
yes, faceoffs. Only once in six seasons
has Kuznetsov been over 45 percent for a season, and he was 38.7 percent this
season. Folks have noticed, but the point is whether his attitude, or at least his performance in this area is an
indicator that he isn’t being all he can be in other areas, at least on a
consistent basis.
Odd Kuznetsov Fact… Throw out the
game against Winnipeg when he was injured and skated only 4:10, and Kuznetsov
was 11-14-25, plus-5, in 18 games in which he won at least 50 percent of his
faceoffs. There were 23 occasions in
which he took more than five draws in a game and won fewer than 35 percent. He was 4-13-17 in those games.
Game to Remember… October 10th vs. Vegas
In the Stanley Cup final against the Vegas Golden Knights,
Evgeny Kuznetsov went 1-7-8, plus-5, in the five game series. In four regular season games against the
Golden Knights coming into this season, he was 1-5-6, plus-3. So, when Vegas visited Capital One Arena in
the third game of the regular season, one might have wondered if Kuznetsov
could sustain the magic. It took less
than 20 minutes to get at least an indication.
On a power play late in the first period, Nicklas Backstrom stepped out
from the right wing call with the puck.
As he was surveying the play, Derek Engelland flattened Brett Connolly
in the slot with a cross-check to the back.
Backstrom and Kuznetsov took advantage of the commotion, Backstrom
sending the puck in front as Kuznetsov was circling out to the top of the
crease. Kuznetsov redirected the puck
through the legs of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to put the Caps on top with just
34.5 seconds left in the period.
It was his deft skating and passing that set up the Caps’
second goal midway through the second period.
Skating the puck into the right wing circle, he had the presence to pull
the puck back just out of the reach of defenseman Colin Miller’s stick. He then hit Alex Ovechkin on the other side
for a one-timer that made it 2-0, 9:42 into the period. Cody Eakin got one back for Vegas before the
end of the period, but the Caps went back up by a pair on a power play early in
the third. Kuznetsov occupied Backstrom’s
usual spot on the right wing wall as Backstrom circled around the back of the Vegas
net. Kuznetsov inched in and threaded a
pass through defenders Jon Merrill and Nick Holden onto the tape of the stick
of Backstrom at the top of the crease.
Backstrom had only to turn his stick blade to redirect the pass for a
3-1 lead 5:08 into the period. Kuznetsov
earned his third primary assist of the game five minutes later, taking a pass
from Brett Connolly in the neutral zone, skating the puck into the left wing
circle, and faking a shot before sending a pass through defender Ryan Carpenter’s
skates to Ovechkin for his second goal of the game and completing a four-point
night for Kuznetsov in the 5-2 win. It
was Kuznetsov’s sixth game of four or more points in his career and the first
of two he had this season.
Game to Forget… January 20th at Chicago
Chicago has not been among Evgeny Kuznetsov’s favorite
stops, if his numbers are an indication.
Although he had only three games at United Center before this season, he
was just 1-0-1, minus-2, with only four shots on goal in those three
games. His fourth trip to the Windy City
might have been his worst and perhaps the Caps’ worst game of the season. Chicago scored early and often, racing out to
a 3-1 lead less than 15 minutes into the game.
The Caps did close to within a goal twice, but they could not find the
equalizer in an 8-5 loss. For Kuznetsov’s
part, he skated 16:44, did not record a point, suffered five blocked shot
attempts, lost seven of 11 draws, and finished a team-worst minus-3.
Postseason… Kuznetsov was fine, if not dominating at home
against Carolina, going 0-5-5, plus one in the first three home games of the
first round series, but he was invisible on the road, not recording a point and
going minus-1, even though he recorded twice as many shots on goal in Carolina
(10) in three road games than he did in the first three games at Capital One
Arena (five). That left things up to
Game 7 at home. When he scored his only
postseason goal, 13:22 into the second period contest, it gave the Caps a 3-1
lead. As it turned out, it would be the
last goal scored by the Caps this season, the Hurricanes winning in double
overtime, 4-3. He finished a far cry
from last season’s Conn Smythe-worthy trip, finishing 1-5-6, minus-1 in
seven games.
Looking ahead… Kuznetsov has six more years on his current
contract, and next year will be the first year of that deal in which a modified
no-trade clause provision will be in effect (source: capfriendly.com). Not that he is going anywhere soon;
Kuznetsov is as much a part of the core of this team as anyone at this
point. But he has not yet stepped up
into that highest echelon of players that his skill set and occasional displays
suggest he could occupy. He has one
80-plus point season in six years with the Caps. It will be interesting to see if this “off”
year by his standards cannot serve as inspiration to make it two such seasons
next year.
In the end…
Evgeny Kuznetsov might be among the top-five pure talents
ever to play for the Capitals. Very few players have exhibited his combination
of skating ability, speed, shooting touch, stickhandling, and passing acumen,
the hockey equivalent of the “five tool” player in baseball. When he is at the top of his game, one could
count the players in the league who are better on one hand. But there seems to be a “not quite there”
part of his game that defies reasoning.
He has not put together consecutive elite seasons, and his play this
season was too often frustrating, despite finishing with more than 70 points
for the third time in five full seasons.
As he enters what could be the prime of his career, that kind of elite
production on a consistent level will be something expected more than hoped
for.
Grade: B
