July 18: Kuznetsov has cleared unconditional waivers and has had his contract terminated, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He’s now a UFA.
July 17: After multiple conflicting reports over the last several days, it appears Evgeny Kuznetsov’s time in the NHL is coming to an end for the foreseeable future. According to a team announcement, the Carolina Hurricanes have placed Kuznetsov on unconditional waivers for contract termination. Assuming that Kuznetsov clears waivers, it is expected he will return to Russia to play in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Although his landing spot in the KHL has not been announced, it is more than likely that Kuznetsov will end up with SKA St. Petersburg on a multi-year agreement according to prior reporting yesterday. SKA St. Petersburg is the current home of former NHL players Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Leipsic, and Valentin Zykov while also being the home of the recent fifth overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, Ivan Demidov.
According to PuckPedia, Kuznetsov will walk away from $6MM by mutually terminating his contract while his separate $3.9MM cap hits with the Hurricanes and Washington Capitals will be lifted from both team’s salary cap structures. Kuznetsov was due a $2MM signing bonus on July 1st as part of his contract which has already been paid out.
Kuznetsov was the 26th overall selection of the Capitals in the 2010 NHL Draft and he made his debut a few years later in the 2013-14 NHL season. He got off to a relatively slow start during his freshman and sophomore campaigns in the NHL but became one of the game’s top centers only a year later. Kuznetsov scored 20 goals and 77 points in 82 games for Washington in the 2013-14 regular season while finishing 19th in Hart Trophy voting.
He became a steady playmaker for the Capitals during the organization’s most successful run in their history. The Russian forward scored 119 goals and 373 points over 420 games in Washington from 2016-2022 while leading the playoffs in assists (20) and points (32) during the team’s run to a Stanley Cup championship in 2018. Unfortunately, due to numerous off-ice issues and a stint in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program, it became apparent that Kuznetsov had a lack of desire to continue playing in Washington as his on-ice production suffered.
The Capitals moved on from Kuznetsov this past trade deadline by dealing him to the Hurricanes for a draft pick and retaining 50% of his salary. Kuznetsov notched two goals and seven points in 20 regular season games for Carolina while collecting another four goals and six points in 10 postseason contests.
At 32 years old, Kuznetsov theoretically could return to the NHL in the future but that does not appear as the route he will take. He will more than likely finish his NHL career with 173 goals and 575 points in 743 games with another 33 goals and 73 points in 97 postseason contests, including a Stanley Cup ring.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was the first to report the Hurricanes would place Kuznetsov on unconditional waivers.
How convenient his cap hits disappear. No doubt there’s back channel crap going on. Maybe a little hawk tuah kind of thing.
Or he requested it because he prefers to go home.
If his cap hit was $7.8M (split between Was and Car) but he already got paid his $2M signing bonus for this year, wouldn’t that $2M still count against the Cap for both teams this year since it was paid?
The article does point out that the full $3.9m ($7.8m AAV) cap hit will come off for each team. The cap hit is based on the AAV and the signing bonus does not factor.
That’s how I read it too.
It seems like this could create a cap loophole on certain contracts. What if someone had a $6M bonus and $2M base salary (total cap of $8M). If a team buys him out they need to still pay a % of the remaining salary and that buyout % counts against them for the cap hit. But they could make a wink-wink deal to wait until the signing bonus is paid and then do a mutual termination for $0 cap hit?
I mention this because it seems like a LOT of contracts recently are heavily loaded with annual signing bonuses and reduced “base” salary.
Not sure if I’m tracking what you’re saying… but the cap hit IS the AAV… regardless of the signing bonus or salary.
I think the reason you’re seeing more front loaded signing bonuses like Guentzel is because those are dollars – when accumulated over time through investment – come straight out of the owners pocket and go into the players pocket without affecting the cap.
I believe signing bonuses are buyout proof. That’s why players prefer that structure.
The most-all bonus pay out contract structure is to avoid buy outs if I’m not mistaken. The amount of cap saved or added is the AAV minus salary for said season. JT for instance in making the minimum this season after a 12M bouns pay out. So if he was bout out they would only save a minimum salary for this year and then have a full AAV hit next season
I wonder how Tom Dundon feels about paying that signing bonus?
Ashtray money.
It’s not that it hurts his wallet, it’s that he hates throwing money away.
He just paid Kuznetsov $2,000,000 for nothing.
Sure, no one likes giving away money. Even a billionaire.
Ultimately, though, I dont think it will weigh on him too much.
Closer to more white powder at home.
How much windex does it take to clean your glass house?
Yea I hear ya. Where I live it’s 90% or so……..cut that is
Frees Canes up to offer-sheet Kaliyev or Harley… we can wish!
Yeah, got to think they’re doing happy dances in Raleigh.
More likely they can now re-sign their own players. Drury already done and Jarvis and Necas still TBD. Prob won’t be a lot left after those guys both sign in the $5M – $7M range each.
Kaliyev is probably worth offer sheeting because of how horrid his season was he probably isn’t looking at a high cap hit, which would mean lower draft picks would be compensation
Goodbye, Kuzy…
And the 12th comment goes to me. “At 32 years old, Kuznetsov theoretically could return to the NHL in the future but that does not appear as the route he will take.” I’m not sure if that’s even in the theoretical realm.
By my math…
That brain-box Tom Dundon just paid Kuznetsov $114k per (and a third round pick) for 30 games!
It’s not the $118k per regular season game that Aho gets, but it’s a lot more than the $94.5k that Svech gets.
Their best player signed an offer sheet with another team…
They embarrassed themselves with the Kotkaniemi offer sheet…
They let the best on-air guy in all of hockey walk to pinch a few pennies…
They keep lowballing Brind’Amour…
Guentzel says, “Thanks, but no thanks”…
Their GM didn’t get fired… he quit!
When are folks gonna realize this low-rent outfit is never going to win a Cup?…
And don’t give me the “spend to the cap” BS… All the stuff from above is about being cheap… not spending to the cap. Winning a cup is about more than spending to the cap.
They live on the cheap for two reasons…
Tom Dundon isn’t going to spend money out of his own pocket – i.e. Brind’Amour, Forslund, signing bonuses.
They sell out every game, but they’re still in the bottom quarter of the league in revenue… so they live on welfare.
I see you’ve moved on from CC.
The bonus is part of the AAV. McDavid is technically paid peanuts since his bonus is so high. The only difference is how/when the money is paid out and by whom.
It’s always snowing in Russia!
Canes and Caps breathe sighs of (cap) relief.
@Gbear – I see what you there! :) Tip of the cap to you!
ERRATA! Apparently, my “did” that should’ve been sandwiched between “you” and “there” landed in the bit bucket. But, on a more amusing note, there’s a guy on YT who resembles EK65 (not a stunt double). He’s a little beefier and doesn’t sound like Karlsson, but it makes you stop and look twice. He’s based in Czechia, according to his channel info (Helping Ninja), so that’s why the accent is different.
I actually didn’t even notice the missing word until now, lol!
Despite his off ice douchiness, that’s a very decent NHL career for Kuznetsov.