The game that has brought so much joy to Evgeny Kuznetsov’s life delivered a callous bit of heartbreak these last few weeks. After the Washington Capitals were ousted from the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he proclaimed that the 77 points he delivered during a breakout season amounted to “zero (at) the end of the year.”
Hockey can be a cruel game.
But if there’s anyone who can pick up and find his way forward it’s the 23-year-old Russian. An ill-timed scoring drought is nothing compared to the circumstances he negotiated to reach the NHL in the first place.
Through a stroke of luck, or chance, or just strange coincidence, a 12-year-old Kuznetsov was featured in Canadian musician/writer/filmmaker Dave Bidini’s 2005 film The Hockey Nomad Goes to Russia.
Bidini came across the Kuznetsov family during a painful period in their life. Evgeny’s older brother, Alexander, had died a year earlier in a violent May Day celebration and the family had moved several hundred kilometres from Chelyabinsk to Omsk so that Evgeny could pursue his hockey dream.
As his mother explained in the film, “We have another son and he is worth living for, and we moved here so we could move on.”
Bidini was struck by how welcoming the family was while his crew spent two weeks picking through the intimate details of their life. They decided to feature Evgeny because the Avangard team in Omsk had recruited him to move there, and even gave his parents work and a place to live.
The family spoke openly about their hopes that he would become a pro hockey player and make lots of money.
“There was five of us (on the crew),” said Bidini. “We were quite obtrusive, you know – it wasn’t just like me and you and a notepad. We were in their home day and night. Well they didn’t have a lot anyway, so it’s not like they had a lot to hide. Their life was just kind of laid bare in this apartment.
“They were very, very generous. We had cameras going through the bedrooms and everywhere, following them around town, but they had a great attitude, too.”
Kuznetsov remembers the experience to this day. While he didn’t comprehend exactly what was happening at the time, he recalls teammates being amused by the television camera in their cramped dressing room before games.
“All the guys in the locker-room were just watching me like: ‘What the f—?”’ Kuznetsov said this week. “Plus they not even speak Russian, you know? They speak a different language. Nobody speak Russian, we’re just like: ‘Where from these guys?”’
The resulting video provides a fascinating snapshot into the sacrifices that were made long before he became the Capitals’ leading scorer.
Kuznetsov obviously carried a family’s hopes and dreams as a kid, but Bidini felt he was extremely level-headed about everything going on around him. Even though he was a star player at age 12, it was far from a guarantee he’d be anything more than a footnote in the film.
“When we left that little apartment in Omsk we never thought we’d see him again,” said Bidini. “You know what it’s like – you meet tons of kids like that. It was kind of sad when we left him, you know, it was like ‘jesus man, I hope.”’
Kuznetsov went on to play in the KHL for Traktor Chelyabinsk and was the 26th overall pick by the Capitals in 2010. He took his time coming to North America, eventually arriving late in the 2013-14 season.
Just last month Bidini and his wife decided to pay Kuznetsov a visit at the Capitals practice facility, and they sat around and chatted for almost an hour. The player chided the filmmaker about getting old. They warmed to each other easily.
“He had (the) same hat and same face,” said Kuznetsov. “Same guy.”
“It was like we were kind of a long-lost aunt and uncle,” said Bidini. “I think it was sort of important to him, or interesting to him in a way, because I remember him when he was a kid. He doesn’t really have people like that over here when his parents aren’t with him.
“Again very, very warm. It couldn’t have gone better.”
Bidini says the young centre is an easy person to root for and certainly felt bad while watching him struggle through the playoffs. He managed only two points in 12 games.
There are already some signs the malaise has passed – Kuznetsov scored a ridiculous highlight-reel goal for Russia at the IIHF World Hockey Championship on Saturday – and Bidini fully expects him to rebound come next season.
“I think a guy like that, having suffered through what he’s suffered through, I can’t help but think that he doesn’t have a long view,” said Bidini. “He’s got a lot of perspective on his life. Listen, for any athlete who has to suffer day to day through what these guys go through, I think that’s going to help pay off for him in the long run too.”
