It’s more likely that he will single-handedly lose them games because he’s the worst defensive center in the league.

I am betting he will be put in positions to not do that

Can someone who follows Carolina explain the fit to me here? Ignoring all the uniqueness of the situation (I think it's a reasonable gamble for a mid pick for his upside if a team trusts its player leadership group to insulate from any such issues), but it seems an odd fit on the ice

I don't watch Carolina beyond when they play teams I do watch so I may just be missing something, but it seems to me they have a #1c in aho, then 3 top 9 C's already in Staal, Drury, and KK. Plus my understanding is Necas is at least comfortable at c and maybe Jarvis too. So why are they of all teams acquiring him?

Necas and Jarvis have never played center for them at the NHL level. It's possible Jarvis still might, at this point the ship has probably sailed on Necas at center for Rod.

The glass-half-empty view is that Drury/Staal/KK constitute 3 bottom-six centers rather than 3 top 9, as Drury/KK haven't proven offensive upside yet. The most successful offensive version using one of them was probably Svech/KK/Necas last year, but that line cratered when Svech got hurt - it wasn't being driven by the center.

From W to L in 12 hours, experience don waddeLL, I guess I must drink coke to let that sink in

a guy who should be in the selke conversation going for a 3rd? huge win for carolina

Hurricanes need a 2C and have way better talent to surround him with. It had looked like he had just given up in Washington and a change of scenery might be a good thing

The canes need a center badly and there weren’t really any options out there. This is a classic canes move taking a chance on a player with diminished value in hopes they turn it around. The caps did good to get a third rounder for him but if Rod can fix him it’ll be good for us too

Not taking anyone that wants to fire Waddell seriously.

Okay makes sense. Thanks for explaining

not taking waddell supporters seriously

I can see the logic here for Carolina. They haven’t had a good #2 center since Trocheck left. They actually planned for that by acquiring Kotkaniemi and grooming him to step into that role when the time came, but he’s regressed after a strong start this season, and he’s back on the fourth line. Jack Drury is centering the second line now, but it’s his first full season and he’s still developing. Not ideal for a cup contender. Jordan Staal is more cut out for a third-line role at this stage in his career, and that’s where they want to keep him. Necas and Jarvis seem better suited to the wing.

I think Kuznetsov would be worth taking a chance on if he was a pending UFA. The idea of him setting up Guentzel so Svechnikov can stay with Aho sounds intriguing, but I don’t like the commitment to a full season at almost $4M cap hit with all the expiring contracts Carolina has. That’s money they might have been able to use to extend Skjei, Pesce or Teravainen. A buyout would save $1M of that and push another $1M out to 2025-26, but that’s when Slavin’s next contract would be kicking in. Even at 50% retained he seems more like a liability than an asset, so the draft pick was a gift to Washington. At best this should have been a “future considerations” trade, but losing the third-rounder isn’t going to hurt Carolina unless they want to give somebody an offer sheet this summer.

I’m not saying I expect him to fail. The fact that he realized he needed help and got it, and was humble enough to report to the minors after clearing waivers is a good sign. I’m just commenting on what I feel his trade value should have been today. I really hope he embraces the opportunity to get his life and career back on track. That would be a win for everybody.

Fair deal. For CAR, there's nothing to lose by trying to get Kuznetsov to anything close of what he's capable of and that could be huge for them. For WSH, they gain cap space and assets for the offseason. Kinda sad for Ovechkin, losing one of his old caps buddy.

Ovie to Carolina next deadline.

3.9 Million and Carolina is starting him on the 4th line. Such a clueless trade

Selke...? Kuznetsov?

I don’t think the plan is to leave him on the fourth line. Apparently he hadn’t skated since going into the player assistance program. I don’t know much about the program, but that surprised me because with the guys in the program being professional hockey players, I thought it would include time for them to try to stay in near game shape. Anyway, you can’t blame Rod for wanting to start him slowly. With Drury out today he played with Noesen and Necas. If I was them I’d be trying to groom him to be Guentzel’s setup man, but his passing looks a little off so far. Hopefully that’s just lack of familiarity with the system and his teammates. It seems like they’re not where he expects them to be.

Not long ago, Washington and their fans were looking for a 1st rounder and more for Kuznetsov, like significantly more.

Washington will also be retaining 50% of this salary, because of how poorly their management team handled this situation.

Kuznetsov has been looking for a trade for years to get out of this situation, and Washington thought that they could capitalize to the max, and failed.


Enjoy your 3rd round pick, while paying half of his salary, next year included.


The fact that people think this is a win for Washington is funny.

I hope Kuznetsov lights it up for Carolina in the playoffs and all of next year.

Kuznetsov started off red hot and has completely fizzled out. Washington had to retain 50%, but Carolina paid assets for a cap whale.

This is not true in the slightest. Washington didn't trade the guy for years because they felt he could still be a meaningful contributor, not due to some idea of "maximizing value". While he had been reportedly asking for a trade, he had put up a point per game season in 2021-22 and had been one of Washington's biggest contributors in the playoffs that year. He wasn't traded because he still brought value to the team, not to mention that he was well loved in the locker room and by pretty much anyone not named either Peter Laviolette or Brian MacLellan. When fans were pitching a trade for him at the end of 2021-22 (when the reports really first came out that he was unhappy in Washington), they wanted a 1st or more because it was worth it, but fan reaction means nothing, just look at the majority of fans that wanted everything not tied down to be traded. Washington was trying to contend so of course they would want to hold onto a player like Kuznetsov for as long as possible to give him every possible chance to return to form and be a top tier player, not to get better value in a trade. The Capitals have been trying to be a playoff team for the last 15 years now, so the notion that they were just trying to "maximize" value on Kuznetsov is foolish.

I proposed a trade last summer, its on my page, involving Edmundson, Kuznetsov ( with 50% retention), and a 2nd round pick going to Toronto, in return for significantly more than a 3rd round pick.

A Capitals fan responded to me with, "Caps say no based on the retention alone lol"

This guy and someone else liked that comment.

I'll say it again, enjoy your 3rd round pick.

I wonder what could've changed within the last year...

Your whole notion is that they attempted to "maximize" value when that straight up isn't true. Me liking a post from a year ago doesn't magically mean Washington had decided to "maximize" value, unless you're so clueless you think I am Brian MacLellan. Did you even read what I said? Or were you too cowardly to even do that?