{"id":151117,"date":"2025-08-16T18:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T18:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/151117\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T18:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T18:11:09","slug":"an-update-on-evgeny-kuznetsovs-contract-negotiations-a-month-and-a-half-into-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/151117\/","title":{"rendered":"An update on Evgeny Kuznetsov\u2019s contract negotiations a month and a half into free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Evgeny Kuznetsov<\/strong> is busy tormenting beer league hockey players in the DC area<\/a>, his agent, Shumi Babaev<\/strong>, has struggled to find Kuznetsov\u2019s next landing spot for the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Kuznetsov and SKA St. Petersburg mutually terminated his KHL contract<\/a>, Babaev revealed that the 2018 Stanley Cup champion would be seeking a return to the NHL<\/a>. A month and a half has now passed after NHL free agency opened on July 1, and a move has yet to materialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is still at the same stage \u2013 the negotiations stage,\u201d Babaev recently told Sport Den za Dnem\u2019s Mikhail Nyukhin<\/a>, as translated by Google Translate. \u201cEverything is in place for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babaev added that he and Kuznetsov have not set a deadline to find an NHL suitor before they consider other options, such as a return to the KHL. Kuznetsov, a two-time All-Star with the Washington Capitals, posted just 24 points (8g, 16a) in 63 games split between the Caps and Carolina Hurricanes during his last season in the NHL.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Russian forward fared better in his lone season for SKA, recording 37 points (12g, 25a) in 39 games, but also struggled with two separate concussions. Babaev previously stated<\/a> his belief that Kuznetsov would be signed by early August, and reporting from RG\u2019s Marco D\u2019Amico<\/a> indicated that the Montreal Canadiens and several other teams had signaled their interest.<\/p>\n

While Kuznetsov still seems set on an NHL return, rumors about potential KHL suitors have persisted. Nyukhin asked Babaev if Kuznetsov had any interest in joining the recently renamed Shanghai Dragons. The team will play their home games at SKA Arena in St. Petersburg this season, which has a spectator capacity of 22,500, before relocating to China as soon as the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, to be honest, I don\u2019t see such a possibility,\u201d Babaev said. \u201cI don\u2019t see it yet, but it\u2019s clear what your question is about. To fill the arena, you need a player like Kuznetsov. It will be hard for them to fill this huge arena if they just recruit hockey players.\u201d<\/p>\n

After rebranding from Kunlun Red Star and relocating their base of operations from Beijing to Shanghai, the Dragons have already made several big splashes this summer.<\/p>\n

Gerard Gallant, a longtime NHL head coach with four different teams, signed on to be the club\u2019s bench boss this past week<\/a>. The Dragons have also inked former NHL players Jake Bischoff and Gage Quinney to contracts, both of whom played under Gallant with the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

Before news of his desire to make a return to the NHL, Kuznetsov had reportedly been considering a return to his hometown team, Traktor Chelyabinsk<\/a>. He was also linked with Ak Bars Kazan<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Evgeny Kuznetsov is busy tormenting beer league hockey players in the DC area, his agent, Shumi Babaev,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":151118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-151117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115039796417527327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}