Photo: Jordan Bondurant/NoVa Caps

The Washington Capitals opened their 2022 training camp activities with their traditional media day frenzy Thursday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. One of the first to step to the podium was star-centerman Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Kuznetsov said he spent the entire off-season in the United States, mostly in Virginia. “Yeah, I’ve been here the whole time.”

Kuznetsov is encouraged by the new players added to the roster over the offseason, and feels they will make the team much better.

“We haven’t really talked about hockey yet, because it’s real early. I feel like they are  excited, excited to be here. They really want to work with us. They are good players in my opinion. I think they gonna make our group much better. Much more flexible. I feel like Mac (Brian MacLellan) did a very good job with all the signings.”

Kuznetsov was asked about the departure of his good friend Ilya Samsonov, who was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs in free agency. He hasn’t said goodbye to him yet, and looks forward to facing him in the second game of the season.

“I haven’t say yet goodbye to him. (Laughs). I was with him a lot this summer. I wish him all the best. As a friend you always want him to be successful. I hope that everything is going to work out with him and he’s gonna play well. That’s a tough environment to be around. So far it sounds like they have pretty good guys inside the team, they help him. There is not a lot of people who speak Russian over there. So his English will be better. I’m very excited about that second game (against Toronto), when we play there.”

Kuznetsov was also asked about the absence of first linemate Tom Wilson, and what aspect of his game will be missed the most.

“Music probably in the locker room (laughs). He usually put the music on. I’m not saying it’s great music. (laughs).”

Full media presser:

By Jon Sorensen