Last weekend gave everyone who was watching the opportunity to take a break for the National Hockey League. A stellar weekend took place in Toronto, which was remembered for the victory of Auston Matthews' team with Justin Bieber and Igor Shesterkin, as well as Nikita Kucherov's trolling towards Canadian fans. During this period, the All-Star Game participants were able to have a lot of fun, and the rest of the players were able to rest and recover properly before the key part of the season.
However, the resumption of the championship turned out to be sad. On the very first day of the new game week, the NHL released sad news — Evgeny Kuznetsov temporarily left the Washington Capitals. Alarming news came from the capital's camp even after the team's morning training session, which the Russian striker missed. According to Caps head coach Spencer Carbery, “for personal reasons.” Late in the evening, the league, together with the NHL Players Association (NHLPA), announced that Kuznetsov would undergo the league's player assistance program. During the period of treatment, he will not be available to play for Washington.
It is not reported what exactly problems the Russian forward encountered. The program itself was launched by the NHL in 1996, its goal is to help players cope with mental health problems or addiction (alcohol or drugs). The period of completion of this program is unlimited: hockey players return to their teams when they believe that they have fully recovered and have undergone treatment. Confidentiality remains an important element of this program — player health information remains strictly private. True, this does not protect them from the spread of rumors in the media.
Kuznetsov is not performing well during the current championship. In 43 matches, he scored 17 points (6 goals and 11 assists), his utility indicator is minus 11. This season, according to statistics, is one of the worst in the Russian’s career in the NHL. Throughout the regular season, Evgeniy himself is often criticized by the North American media. Carbery also expressed dissatisfaction with the player. At one point, the head coach of Washington even transferred Kuzya to the reserve. The Caps coach explained his decision to give the Russian the opportunity to “mentally reboot.” Kuznetsov later admitted that he needed it.
Nevertheless, today's news was shocking. After all, even during the All-Star break, Kuznetsov seemed to be in a good mood. The Russian even met with his former teammate Dmitry Orlov, and their photos and videos together did not hint at any problems with Evgeniy’s mental health or anything else.
The current NHL season, in principle, has become unexpectedly rich in cases when league players had to resort to an assistance program from the NHLPA. This is already becoming a kind of epidemic.
Previously, this affected the 25-year-old Canadian defender of the Colorado Avalanche, Samuel Girard, who decided to undergo treatment for depression and anxiety, which led him to alcohol abuse. Later, his teammate Valery Nichushkin joined the program. The Russian Avalanche forward was having his best season in his NHL career, but in mid-January he temporarily left the club. According to SE, this is not related to alcohol or drugs. Also right now, the Finnish Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine is undergoing a program to help NHL players, who wished to “pay attention to his mental health and well-being.” It is noteworthy that at the end of last year, it was Laine’s name that was associated with Kuznetsov as a participant in a potential exchange between Washington and Columbus.
As for Kuznetsov, several years ago he already went through a similar program. In 2019, his doping test gave a positive result for the presence of traces of cocaine in his body, which is why the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) disqualified Evgeniy for four years. The NHL, free from IIHF rules, limited itself to suspending the Capitals forward for three games. Kuzya himself voluntarily completed an educational and consulting program from the NHL and NHLPA.
We can only hope that the star Russian forward will solve his problems, recover and return to action in the near future, and at the same time, to his previous level.
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