Evgeny Kuznetsov Is Staying In Russia For Two More Years

We won! We won! Yep, we won Game 2 against the Rangers. It was all going so well, the series was at a tie heading into Game 3 and Kuzya was due to announce his decision about his future this morning, and it was widely expected that the 19 year old star would join the Caps in 2012-2013, especially after being photographed with this hat on:

Turns out the kid was trolling us along. And yes, Kuzya, we're mad. Here's a perfect reenactment of what happened (photo credit @hockeyshops):

Really? Really? We could have used him so much next season, but he says it's only for two years. This could  be a good thing, hear me out. According to his EliteProspects report, he must improve his strength. Personally, I'd hate to see him go up against players like Andy Sutton or Milan Lucic. Also, he's only 19. It's a big ask for someone to move to a country where the language is totally different and you hardly know anyone there - as a 16 year old hockey player, if a KHL team offered me a contract (ha, as if) I would not go out there for at least a couple of years. He's human, guys, he's not a machine.

Caps From Across The Pond wish him the best of luck over the next two seasons and hope to see an all Russian Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Semin line in a couple of seasons' time.