3/3: Kuznetsov has officially cleared waivers and been loaned to the AHL’s Hershey Bears, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, who shares that Kuznetsov is one of the league’s highest-salaried players of all time.
3/2: Earlier today, Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov was cleared to resume practicing with the team and has entered the follow-up phase of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, per a league announcement. However, he won’t be getting that opportunity as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Washington has placed the veteran on waivers.
Notably, Kuznetsov has not been cleared to return to game action through the program yet which makes the timing of this placement a little surprising. The 31-year-old entered the Player Assistance Program last month and hadn’t been counting against Washington’s books since then; that will be changing and his $7.8MM AAV will soon be back on their books.
In his prime, Kuznetsov was a legitimate top-line center and even just two years ago, he was hanging around the point-per-game mark. However, his production dipped from 78 points to 55 points last season and this year, the drop-off has been even sharper. Despite seeing his average ice time go up from a year ago, Kuznetsov has been limited to just six goals and 11 assists in 43 games with Washington while logging a little under 19 minutes a night. Those numbers won’t be going up anytime soon as a result of this placement.
Kuznetsov has one year left on his contract after this one at that $7.8MM price tag so it’s hard to envision a scenario where he gets claimed. Assuming he clears waivers on Sunday at 1 PM CT, he can be assigned to AHL Hershey, a move that would free up a pro-rated $1.15MM in salary cap space.
Speaking with reporters following the placement including Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press (Twitter link), GM Brian MacLellan indicated that this move is about getting Kuznetsov a fresh start. With a waiver claim being unlikely, that fresh start will either have to come through a trade or buyout.
Washington could look to move Kuznetsov where they could retain up to 50% of his cap hit and salary, a move that might get them some takers as a low-risk flyer. If that doesn’t happen, buying Kuznetsov out would cost $3.8MM against the cap next season and $2MM in 2025-26. With the buyout charge and cost at 50% retention being pretty much the same for 2024-25, it wouldn’t be surprising to see MacLellan push to get something done on the trade front with the buyout being a last resort. Either way, it looks like Kuznetsov’s time with the Capitals is about to be over.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
WOULD Anaheim or Arizona take a chance …I would ..
Would Columbus, Calgary (need a C) or San Jose or Chicago?
I bet he’s praying that the AVS put in a claim. A mile high on top of a mountain of snow is exactly where he wants to be.
Lol
Well, there’s a wildcard for the trade deadline!
Woof!
Naive Caps fan here…this surprised me.
If he’s clean, does he have anything left in the tank? Hurricanes could use help down the middle but not sure he’s worth the flier.
Chicago should hop on this, Davidson is looking to acquire a guy who is signed for 1 more year, Power Play with Bedard, $7.8M cap hit gets them further from the floor, who knows he might restore his value for next years deadline with a fresh start, with all the generous extensions the Hawks have given and the moves they’ve made, Kuzy makes a lot of sense here for Chicago
Aquiring that junkie after their experiences with Perry would be the ultimate definition of stupidity.
Second time in rehab that we know of, He’s a huge overpaid liability!!!!! In fact he owes the Capitals money in my opinion.
Kuznetsov to NYR?
they should reacquire Tarasenko instead tbh
Its not a surprising move when you look just at his play but you dont see big time contracts like this get waived very often and only my habs bad Alzner signing comes to mind as the last 1. All that being said if he was in the program for depression being that for depression directly or depression causing an addiction then you would think this wouldn’t help the man. The fact that he could be sent down could help a deal tho. If the caps hold half his deal and he is in the minors for the rest of the season tell playoff time he would only cost 2.75 against the cap and he could be brought up in the post season thats very unlikely tho. Now if 2 teams hold money then he would be under 2M and that would be a good price for a guy who has big potential for points but i believe he is horrible in the D zone tho
This feels like a possible 2x retention 3 team trade. Flames , bruins , capitals. Bruins get kuznetzov , and 3rd round pick from Calgary. Flames get debrusk , 2025 4th round pick from wash plus take on salary from kuznetzov. Then Washington takes on Derek forbort and receives a 4th from Boston. Bruins then turn and trade a second and third and get back Reilly Smith. Bruins should know better but this is only way to add depth without giving up either goalie
Trade him, a 1st & 2nd for PLD
Sad story. Kuznetsov playing up to his potential absolutely made the difference in the 2018 Cup run and for 2 seasons you could see he was a top tier player. He was the Malkin-level player they needed to complement Ovechkin and create an annual deep playoff threat.
Unfortunately, 2 seasons was all he’d show and he’s overall an underachiever who couldn’t keep himself straight. Needs out of DC. Now they have to hope a rival GM isn’t thinking clearly and thinks they can unlock 2018 or 2019 Kuznetsov – the best situation for Kuzy and the team that wants him is a team that needs a 2nd line center and happy with 2nd line production hoping he could find that 1st line production he once had, and not put too much pressure on him.
Legitimately one of the most talented players in the world. Shame he couldn’t put it together consistently.