The drawn-out search for a club by Evgeny Kuznetsov has at last come to a close.
With no suitable NHL offer materializing, the center is back in Russia's KHL, putting pen to paper for a single season ahead with Magnitogorsk's Metallurg in 2025-26.
Artur Khairullin, a Sport-Express journalist, was the first to report it via Telegram.
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Match TV reports that the deal pays the forward 10 million in rubles for the season — roughly $123K stateside — and adds an incentive of 100 million in rubles (equal to $1.23 million stateside) if he winds up among the three leading point producers in the league.
Over on the team's website, the club's director of sport, Evgeny Biryukov, offered his thoughts on the addition (via sports.ru, with a translation courtesy of Google):
What's been the talk of the Russian hockey community for the past few days has happened – Metallurg has signed Evgeny Kuznetsov. I don't think he needs an introduction. Evgeny is a top-class player; players like him are rare on the free agent market. We all know his strengths: technique, skating, and the ability to not only make plays himself but also create opportunities for his teammates. A player of his caliber will add variety to our attack. Moreover, he plays as a center forward, a position that's in short supply these days. We simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to strengthen our roster with such a player. Yes, Evgeny's last season was a bit of a mess, but we've spoken several times and we see in him an incredible drive and a desire to prove to everyone, including himself, that he's a top-level player with big goals. I'm confident Andrei Vladimirovich (our head coach) knows how to integrate a forward into the lineup effectively, as well as unlock and enhance his talent. The coaches will now assess his fitness level and then determine his debut date for Metallurg. I personally wish Evgeny the best of luck in showing everyone what he's capable of.
The signing came on the heels of a private workout the forward held with his new club. Situated in Russia's Chelyabinsk region, Magnitogorsk sits some 187 miles to the southwest of Chelyabinsk, the city where Kuzy was born. A pair of seasons were played there by former Washington standout Alex Semin between 2015 and 2017, during which he hoisted the Gagarin Cup in 2016 together with Ilya Samsonov.
Now 33, Kuznetsov spent 2024-25 with St. Petersburg's SKA, registering 37 points — 12 goals, 25 assists — through 39 games in the regular season, plus another 3 points (a goal and two helpers) across 6 postseason outings. Come April, the two sides mutually called it off, voiding the three years that remained on his four-year pact.
After May speculation linking him to Ak Bars Kazan, the playmaker and Shumi Babaev, who represents him, devoted their whole offseason to engineering a comeback stateside. As Babaev tells it, the duo were in talks with over 10 NHL clubs, Florida and Montreal among them, yet nothing ultimately materialized.
The center paid a brief visit to Washington's DC area over the warmer stretch, generating chatter through beer-league appearances on multiple occasions at the Capitals' MedStar Iceplex, and showing up for a well-attended public signing held across Maryland's southern reaches toward the close of July.
Per Babaev, a reunion with Washington was never under consideration.