The 32-year-old center resparked his career after landing in Carolina.
When Evgeny Kuznetsov joined the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline, he was very candid about this being his last opportunity to prove himself.
Despite some ups and downs, it’s safe to say that Kuznetsov showed he can still be a valuable piece with four goals and six points in 10 postseason games despite playing just 11:30 per game.
The Canes held their first round of exit interviews on Saturday following the conclusion of their 2023-24 season which ended after losing in six games to the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs.
Here’s what Kuznetsov had to say:
On the opportunity that Carolina gave him: It was a beautiful opportunity for me. I want to thank all the people that made that happen. It was on both sides. Came in trying to be me and trying to help the team win. Unfortunately, it’s a little sour taste right at the end of the year. Especially… we were down 3-0 and it was like, ‘Okay, let’s get one at least so it’s not that bad, so it doesn’t look bad,’ but then we got the one and the second one. Right before game six, probably 36 hours, I was driving around thinking and kind of caught myself in the thoughts that you know I’ve played a long time and usually if you lose, you go home, you’re happy kind of, right? But for some reason before game six, I thought, ‘Man, this is going to suck [if we lose],’ because of the way we turned the series around and started playing better. It did suck actually. So after the game it was pretty hard and still kind of one of those games I’ll probably never forget. I think we deserved to have a game seven maybe lose it over there or win or whatever it is, but at least we deserved to win that game six. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough. I know this group may never be the same and may never look the same. But for me it’s still a new group. Just hoping this summer will help us to be better and come back a bit stronger.
On his favorite memory with the team: My first day probably. Flew from Charlotte to here. That was amazing. By 11:30 I was still in Charlotte and by 1 o’clock, I was here. After missing like 45 days and getting a couple of practices in Hershey, 12 hour bus drive and stuff like that. That whole week will be unforgettable.
On if he can see similarities between Washington before they finally won and Carolina currently: I feel like it’s just impossible to do by one or two or three guys. A lot of guys have to make sure that they accept their role on the team and execute and just work for each other and play for each other. It’s impossible to change coach or one or two or three players and think that things will turn around. No. It’s gotta be by every guy. It’s hard to build that something and I feel like this team is going towards that winning culture. It’s about not Game 56 in the regular season and stuff like that. It’s one of those when you’re like, ‘Okay, we’re going to be in the playoffs and then we go.’ It’s one of those things where you don’t waste your energy and you’re not happy when you win game number 53 or 61. You just come back and keep working and know what’s your role. That’s why you need older guys on the team. They always help you. They know when to smile, they know when to not smile. They know when to talk to the team and stuff like that. That’s why we need those guys. I’ve always had great leadership in front of me. On the team I played on before, it was phenomenal. It was older guys and younger guys and they all learned from each other. That was a great experience.
On accepting a diminished role from what he’s used to: It’s one of those things thinking, ‘Okay, what else can I do.’ I can bitching about or crying about things or I can be me and I can help the team and I can come back every day and help the team win. So for me, it was hard. It’s hard to perform out there and be me, but I was trying hard to figure out what’s best for the team. If that’s where they need me right now, I’ll be there and if something happens, I’ll be ready for either way.
On what he learned about himself throughout this whole process: A lot of emotions. I’m feeling very grateful for the opportunity to be here and still play in the NHL. It’s just hard to put the words together because I’m still mentally in that Game 6. I don’t usually care that long for the game and I don’t usually think about games for that long, but man, that game is still in my head and it’s something that I’ll probably need to do something with that for sure. Because like I said, if we were to lose in a Game 7, it’s a different story, but that game, for me personally, it just sucked.
On knowing how difficult it is to win it all: That’s the thing. When we won before, it was super easy. Everything was clicking. Every day, you come in and it clicks here and here and it’s done. It was just like when I look back, it was just so excited and so easy actually. But maybe it’s not one of those moments where we’ve clicked yet and maybe when it’s clicking, you’re just enjoying it every day and everybody’s executing their roles and stuff like that. It was pretty good.
