{"id":183796,"date":"2025-10-02T00:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T00:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183796\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T00:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T00:30:10","slug":"evgeny-kuznetsov-signs-with-khls-metallurg-magnitogorsk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183796\/","title":{"rendered":"Evgeny Kuznetsov Signs With KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk"},"content":{"rendered":"

There will be no NHL return for\u00a0Evgeny Kuznetsov<\/a>, at least for now. The veteran of 11 NHL seasons had been\u00a0the subject of rumors for most of the summer but has now signed on to remain in his native Russia for another season with the Kontinental Hockey League\u2019s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, according to a\u00a0league press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kuznetsov, 33, returned to Russia last summer after a short-lived tenure with the Hurricanes. He managed six goals and 13 points in 30 combined regular-season and playoff games for the club after they acquired him from the Capitals at the trade deadline. The one-time All-Star had cleared waivers days before after exiting the NHL\/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. On the whole, his scoring line for 2023-24 read 8-16\u201324 through 63 appearances. That was by far the worst point-per-game production he had, marking a sharp decline after having managed nearly a point per game for the Caps just two years prior.<\/p>\n

Seeking stability, Kuznetsov accepted a mutual contract termination with Carolina last summer and promptly signed a four-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg. The move home allowed him to rediscover his once-consistently top-six caliber offensive\u00a0skill set, flourishing alongside young NHL prospects like\u00a0Ivan Demidov<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Alexander Nikishin,<\/a>\u00a0and recording\u00a012 goals and 37 points in 39 appearances. That resurgence rekindled his desire for NHL success, and he obtained a release from SKA<\/a> back in April to facilitate it. There were still two undisclosed teams\u00a0interested in signing him<\/a> at the beginning of September, but training camp has now mostly passed without a contract being signed.<\/p>\n

Another KHL season at or near a point per game could make Kuznetsov\u2019s transition back to North America easier next summer, but for now, it\u2019s still prove-it time. Kuznetsov joins a hot Metallurg squad off to a 7-1-2 start to rank fourth in the league, fueled by an early-season breakout from Blackhawks prospect\u00a0Roman Kantserov<\/a>, who has five goals and 10 assists through his first 10 games.<\/p>\n

Kuznetsov was a first-round pick by Washington in 2010 and was dominant in their run to the 2018 Stanley Cup, leading the league in postseason scoring with 20 assists and 32 points in 24 appearances. His 568 points in 723 regular-season appearances for the Caps rank seventh in franchise history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There will be no NHL return for\u00a0Evgeny Kuznetsov, at least for now. The veteran of 11 NHL seasons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,980,981,575,85,206],"class_list":{"0":"post-183796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-evgeny-kuznetsov","11":"tag-khl","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-transactions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}