Reports from Russia indicate that Evgeny Kuznetsov will terminate his NHL contract with the Carolina Hurricanes and return home to play in the KHL. It would mark the end of an 11-year NHL career, nearly all of which was spent with the Washington Capitals.
Kuznetsov has amassed 171 goals and 568 points in 723 games, but, outside of his infamously slow shootout style, is perhaps most well known for a 2017-18 season when he posted an NHL career-high 83 points and helped lead the Capitals to the first Stanley Cup title in franchise history.
Despite Nicklas Backstrom serving as Washington’s typical top-line center, it was Kuznetsov who played alongside Alex Ovechkin in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was not awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, but Kuznetsov led the Capitals with 32 points in 24 postseason games. He scored 12 goals, second on the team behind only Ovechkin, and fell one point shy of tying an NHL Stanley Cup Final record in Game 4 when he tallied four points in a 6-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Despite never taking home any personal hardware, the Russian forward is a talented two-way center and key piece of some excellent Washington teams in the 2010s. He’s spent all but 20 games of his NHL career with the Capitals, before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes late last season.
Kuznetsov is not the only one to move on from that stacked Capitals team, which defeated the Golden Knights in five games to win the Stanley Cup.
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Where Capitals stand 6 years after winning 2018 Stanley Cup championship
The Capitals have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in five of six seasons since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018. However, they haven’t won a single postseason series in that span. This past season, they were swept in the first round by the New York Rangers.
Only five players remain on the Capitals roster from the championship team There are other still playing in the NHL or AHL, and many more have retired.
Let’s check in on some of the key players.
Alex Ovechkin — Returning for 20th season with Capitals
Alex Ovechkin remains the most prominent figure from the Capitals championship squad, finishing up his 19th season in the NHL and his 15th as Washington’s captain this past season.
Ovechkin took home the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2018, leading the team with 15 postseason goals and successfully bringing Lord Stanley’s chalice to D.C. in his first Cup Final appearance.
Despite a slow start and ultimately a down year for the 38-year-old, who finally seemed to feel the effects of Father Time, he still finished with 31 goals and 65 points in 2023024. He enters his 20th NHL season just 42 goals shy of surpassing Wayne Greztky (894) to become the NHL all-time goals leader.
It seems like “The Great Eight” still has a couple of years left in the tank, but his retirement, and the end of an era, are coming soon for the future Hall of Famer.
Braden Holtby — Has not played since 2022
Braden Holtby is best known for his 10 seasons with the Capitals when he was one of the best goalies in the League, winning the Vezina Trophy in 2015-16 and Jennings Trophy in 2016-17.
Holtby was a brick wall in the 2018 postseason, playing to a .922 save percentage and 2.16 goals-against average, winning 16 of the 23 games he played.
Injuries began to limit his performance, beginning in the 2019-20, when he posted a 3.11 GAA and a .897 save percentage in his final season with Washington. He spent the next two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars, playing just 45 games combined. After a lower-body injury sidelined him in Dallas in the 2021-22 season, it was reported that it would take him a full year, potentially more, to return.
Holtby has not officially announced his retirement, but is currently unsigned and has not played a game since March 4, 2022.
Nicklas Backstrom — Leave of absence from hockey
Nicklas Backstrom is one of just 98 NHL players to surpass 1,000 points, amassing 1,033 in his 17 seasons with Washington, largely as their top-line center. Whether or not he is a Hall of Famer is a debate for another time — Backstrom, like Kuznetsov, hasn’t taken home any personal hardware but was largely considered one of the League’s best two-way forwards.
Backstrom finished third on the team in the 2018 postseason with 23 points in 20 games, scoring a goal and six points in the Cup Final.
Like Holtby, injuries have derailed the latter half of his career. Backstrom enjoyed one more 50-point season after the championship but has seen his production and health decline ever since.
He appeared in eight games last season, notching one point, before announcing that he was taking a leave of absence from the game due to lingering issues related to his hip resurfacing surgery back in 2022. He has not officially announced his retirement and it is unclear if he will ever play another game in the NHL. For the time being, he remains on Washington’s LTIR.
John Carlson — Returning for 16th season with Capitals
Even as he turns 35 this upcoming season, John Carlson remains one of Washington’s top defensemen and a staple of their blue line as he returns for his 16th NHL season, all with the Capitals.
He appeared in all 24 games of the 2018 Cup run, and was fifth on the Capitals with 20 points, leading all skaters with 25:38 ATOI.
Carlson played in all 82 regular-season games last season as well as all four of their postseason games, and, outside of an injury that sidelined him for half a season in 2022-23, has managed to stay healthy into his late thirties. While he’s likely lost a step, contributing to a drop-off in some of his defensive metrics, he’s still well above average offensively and finished this past season with 52 points, third-best among all Capitals skaters.
TJ Oshie — Returning for 10th season with Capitals
At age 38, TJ Oshie will return for his 17th NHL season and 10th with Washington in 2024-25. He’s now played over 1,000 NHL games with 300-plus goals and nearly 700 points to show for it.
Oshie finished the 2018 postseason with eight goals and 21 points, good for fourth-best on the squad.
Various injuries have kept him from reaching the 60-game mark in each of the past four seasons, but he’s remained a solid producer when healthy, averaging 16 goals and 32 points across the four-year span.
Tom Wilson — Returning for 12th season with Capitals
Tom Wilson is likely the only member of the 2018 championship team that was in their prime then and remains in his prime now. While both Ovechkin and Carlson outperformed him on the stat sheet this past season, Wilson will be 30 next season and is an effective disruptor, as long as he can avoid the suspensions.
Wilson had five goals and 15 points as a 23-year-old in the 2018 postseason, finishing off a breakout campaign when he surpassed the 10-goal and 30-point mark for the first time in the NHL.
His production dipped this past season, when he posted 18 goals and 35 points in 74 games and finished third in the NHL with 133 penalty minutes. As is on brand for him, he also served a six-game suspension for a high-stick swing at Toronto Maple Leafs forward Noah Gregor.
He is, however, just two years removed from NHL career highs of 24 goals and 52 points and remains a regular in Washington’s top six.
Dmitry Orlov — Defenseman for Carolina Hurricanes
Dmitry Orlov spent 11 seasons as an excellent defensive defenseman on Washington’s blue line. He’s maintained that level of play into his early thirties, albeit now in a different sweater.
Orlov recorded a plus-5 rating and the third-highest TOI of any skater in the 2018 Cup run. He remained in D.C. for four and a half more seasons, before Washington traded him to the Boston Bruins before the 2023 trade deadline.
He’ll be 33 next season as he finishes up a two-year contract with the Hurricanes. His first season in Carolina was a resounding success, when he recorded 26 points in 82 games and ranked in the 95th percentile defensively.
Lars Eller — Center for Pittsburgh Penguins
Lars Eller scored an NHL career-high 18 goals in the 2017-18 regular season and maintained that production during the playoffs, tallying seven goals and 18 points.
The Capitals dealt him to the Colorado Avalanche midway through the 2022-23 season. He signed a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins that offseason and will return for a second season there. He appeared in all 82 games last season, notching 15 goals and 31 points.
Chandler Stephenson & Philipp Grubauer — Playing for Seattle Kraken
Chandler Stephenson and Philipp Grubauer played smaller roles on the 2018 Capitals but have since blossomed into regular starters and are now teammates with the Seattle Kraken.
Stephenson tallied two goals and seven points in the postseason as he saw time next to Backstrom and Oshie, and Grubaer allowed eight goals on 49 shots in two games as a backup goalie behind Holtby.
The Capitals traded Stephenson to the Golden Knights in 2020 after a slow start. He flourished in Vegas, tallying consecutive 60-point seasons. After helping the Capitals defeat the Golden Knights in 2018, Stephenson helped the Golden Knights win their first Stanley Cup championship, etching his name onto the Cup a second time in 2023. His play in Vegas earned him a 7-year, $6.25 million AAV contract with the Kraken this offseason.
Grubaer left for Colorado following the 2017-18 season and found success there, finishing third in Vezina Trophy voting in 2021 before joining Seattle. He’s served as the starter in Seattle for two seasons and will now likely return in a backup role after Joey Daccord’s breakout season in 2023-24.
Stephenson and Grubauer will play for the Kraken next season, marking the first time they’ve been teammates since 2018 when they hoisted the Cup together in Washington.