{"id":173884,"date":"2025-09-27T21:33:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T21:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/173884\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T21:33:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T21:33:18","slug":"evgeny-kuznetzov-eyeing-nhl-return-and-one-canadian-team-is-the-favourite-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/173884\/","title":{"rendered":"Evgeny Kuznetzov eyeing NHL return, and one Canadian team is the favourite: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been over a year since Evgeny Kuznetsov last played an NHL game.<\/p>\n

However, the 33-year-old is reportedly getting closer to a return.<\/p>\n

According to a report from RG Media<\/a>, multiple teams are still interested in signing the former Stanley Cup champion.<\/p>\n

The two teams on the top of that list right now? That would be the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvgeny wants to play in the NHL,\u201d a source close to the situation told RG Media. \u201cRight now, he\u2019s waiting on Toronto\u2019s decision, though Florida is also an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"kuznetsov<\/p>\n

Kuznetsov was a beast for Washington in the 2018 NHL playoffs. (Stephen R. Sylvanie\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs currently have just $1.14 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia. However, there are players on the roster that they could look to trade if they want to clear cap space.<\/p>\n

Centre David K\u00e4mpf was a regular press box participant for the Leafs in 2024-25. Despite being healthy in the playoffs, the 30-year-old played in just one of Toronto\u2019s 13 postseason contests.<\/p>\n

K\u00e4mpf admitted that he expected to get traded during the offseason, but he currently remains with the Leafs. The eight-year NHL veteran has two years left on his contract, which pays him $2.4 million per season.<\/p>\n

Calle J\u00e4rnkrok is another potential trade candidate. Despite being a regular penalty killer for the Leafs since joining the team, neither he nor K\u00e4mpf were among the eight penalty killing forwards during training camp practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

J\u00e4rnkrok has one year left on his deal, worth $2.1 million.<\/p>\n

The report suggests that the Leafs could be competing with their Atlantic Division rival for Kuznetsov\u2019s services. With Aleksander Barkov expected to miss the season due to a torn ACL, the Florida Panthers are showing interest in signing Kuznetsov.<\/p>\n

RG Media reported earlier in the summer<\/a> that at least 10 NHL teams had shown interest in the NHL veteran.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always said that the NHL is where he belongs,\u201d Kuznetsov\u2019s agent, Shumi Babaev, told RG Media back in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had time away from the NHL and now clearly sees the difference in the level of hockey,\u201d Babanev said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be easier for him to perform in a league where he spent so many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuznetsov posted 37 points in 39 KHL games last season, and his 0.95 points-per-game mark was sixth-best in the league.<\/p>\n

He spent the offseason training with other notable players such as Kirill Kaprizov, Igor Shesterkin, and Vitali Kravtsov.<\/p>\n

The veteran centre spent most of his career with the Washington Capitals before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes during the 2023-24 season. He had modest numbers in the regular season for Carolina, but he did finish tied for second among Hurricanes forwards with four goals in 10 playoff games.<\/p>\n

You might also like:Kravtsov trained with superstar Russian player before NHL comeback attempt with Vancouver Canucks<\/a>Toronto Maple Leafs drop major preview to opening night lines<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been over a year since Evgeny Kuznetsov last played an NHL game. However, the 33-year-old is reportedly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-173884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}