Kuzya multi-tasks while talking to the media Tuesday.

The KHL is currently taking the week off so that the Russian National Team can participate in the upcoming Karjala Cup, an annual tournament held in Finland where the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, and Russia all face off against one another. 19-year-old Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov was invited to play on the National Team and joined his teammates in Novogorsk, Moscow Region to prepare for their first game Thursday.

Despite the fact that the team is filled with stars such as Alexander Radulov and Vladmir Tarasenko, Kuznetsov — who was working out at the time — was mobbed by journalists during his media availability. In interviews to both Sovetsky Sport and Sport-Express, the gifted and versatile forward discussed his NHL plans, gossiped about the latest KHL news, and mused on what it will be like to play center again during the four day tourney.

Below the jump, check out my translation of the interview.

Question: Did you see what happened in Minsk with former Traktor coach Andrei Nazarov on Sunday?

Answer: Not yet, but I heard about it. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I think this story is overblown.

Q: You don’t see a coach going at the stands with a stick much…

A: The fans should blame themselves. They need to be respectful and not throw bottles at players on the ice. It was not pretty. And I understand Andrey Viktorovich. He’s an emotional person. You don’t need to blame it all on the coach because we are people. Everybody loses their temper sometimes.

Q: What do you think about the policy of the coaching staff directed to make the national team younger?

A: I’m all for it, because I’m the youngest [laughing]. Of course, I want to see more young players on the team.

Q: Did you hear that they wanted to try you at the center position [during the tournament]?

A: For me it’s more interesting and even more comfortable to play at center.

Q: But you’ll have to play more defense!

A: And that’s what I like!

Q: You’re the youngest player on the team. You’ll most likely have to pick up pucks after the training session…

A: That’s not a problem. The veterans here don’t push the youngsters around. We’re not living in the 80′s.

Q: Do you follow the Capitals, the team who drafted you?

A: I have a routine I follow so I can’t stay up late. But I do look up the score and see who scored goals.

Q: When are you going to leave Russia for the NHL?

A: I’ve made a decision. I know where and how I will spend the next few years of my hockey career. But I won’t talk about my plan. It would be uninteresting if I did so.

Q: Have you spoken with Dmitry Orlov who plays with the Capitals’ affiliate in Hershey?

A: Yes, we’ve talked over Skype a few times. He says that “things are okay over here”. It’s much more difficult to make it to the NHL for defensemen. There are a lot of players on one-way deals.

Q: Team Russia plays the Finns on Thursday. Mikael Granlund, who scored an interesting goal against the Russian National Team during last year’s World Championships, plays there.

A: I could make a joke about that, but I’m not of an age where you can say whatever you want to the media anymore. I will only say that I have a bet with [Traktor forward Petteri] Kontiola – the one who loses pays for dinner.

We need to beat Finns and Swedes right away. They need to know who the Russians are. We need to beat them with any players on their roster. Because if we lose once or twice, we’ll have a complex. That’s psychology!

Q: Everyone was surprised by Traktor’s great start…

A: I was surprised as well [laughing]. The key is that we are good on defense. It has helped the result so far.

Q: What are your thoughts on the World Junior Championship in Calgary?

A: I need to make the team first.

Q: WJC Head Coach Valery Bragin said you’re the only one who has a guaranteed spot on the team.

A: What if I play bad? Nobody has a guaranteed spot.

Q: Many people say that Russia hasn’t had such a strong roster as this in quite a long time.

A: Players who play in the Canadian junior leagues need to show something in the KHL first. Everybody talks about them as the top players for the next draft. I don’t want to offend the guys but I don’t think the level of hockey there is higher than in the MHL. I was offered a chance to go to the CHL myself. Many thanks to my Russian agent Valery Guschin who talked me out of taking that step. I’m just happy I didn’t go there. What would I do there? Clean windows in McDonald’s? I can do it here as well [laughing].

Russia will face Finland on Thursday, Sweden on Saturday and the Czech Republic on Sunday.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Kuznetsov’s goal against Neftekhimik comes at the 1:00 mark — his assist immediately thereafter. He also has a breakaway attempt at 2:05.

In a Kharlamov Division match-up Monday, the KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk destroyed Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (how do you even say that?) 8-2, their biggest win of the season. The Petrochemists, whose defense might as well have been staffed by actual scientists, had no answer for Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuzya scored his tenth goal of the season — the game’s deciding tally — on a beautiful wraparound to put Traktor up 3-0 in the first period. Also, he fancily went behind the back to assist on Andrei Popov’s goal from the slot.

That was Kuznetsov’s third straight two-point performance. He also has four goals and four assists in his last five games against Neftekhimik. The 19-year-old Russian also continues to lead the league in game-winning goals (five) and is tied for third place in overall goals (ten), which is three less than leader Roman Cervenka.

Wednesday, Kuznetsov did not register a point as Traktor beat powerhouse Ak Bars Kazan 3-2. With the win, the White Bears now sit first in the KHL’s Eastern Conference, and are tied for most standings points in the league.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Capitals prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his ninth goal of the season and nabbed a pretty assist in Traktor’s 3-2 win today over Vladimir Tarasenko and Sibir Novosibirsk.

Before the game, all eyes were on 19-year-old superstars Kuznetsov and Tarasenko, who played together on last year’s gold medal winning World Junior Championship team. Considered two of Russia’s finest young talents, they both played on Russia’s National Team already, were drafted in the first round of the 2010 NHL entry draft, and are among the KHL’s league leaders in goals.

Andrey Osadchenko, whom you may know in North America for the vlog he does with Steve Dangle called Joining the Rush, wrote a piece on Allhockey.ru about the meaning of today’s game.

Despite the fact that they have already played on different club teams, we’re used to thinking of them as of a single unit, the personification of Russia’s hockey future. Not the immediate future – a distant future. It has been made clear they’ll be great players, but when? Knock-knock, wake up citizens – the future is now!

[...]

Of course, Tarasenko and Kuznetsov won’t play each other for the first time, they’re not rookies in the KHL. But today they’ll hit the ice not as “young and promising”, not as “our bright tomorrow”. Today, they are the stars of the show.

Video of Kuznetsov’s goal and assist. At the end, Evgeny is also shown embracing Vladimir Tarasenko after the game with fellow 2011 WJC teammember Anton Burdasov.

Today Kuznetsov’s star shone brighter than Tarasenko’s. With eight minutes to go in the third and the game tied 1-1, Kuzya patiently held onto the puck and found defenseman Deron Quint for an easy powerplay goal. If you look closely at the video, you’ll notice Kuznetsov curls and drags the puck for several seconds– freezing both the penalty killers and the goalie– before setting up Quint for a lay-up. Unbelievable!

This goal, however, wasn’t enough as Sibir tied the game at two with less than three minutes to go. Kuznetsov needed only 13 seconds to take the lead back for Traktor as he was hooked down to the ice on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot. Kuzya easily scored and Traktor went on to win 3-2.

His ninth goal of the year today puts Kuznetsov only one tally behind Roman Cervenka in the KHL scorers race and ties him ironically enough with Tarasenko for second place. Also, the goal was his fourth game-winner of the season and gave him the lead in this category.

One final interesting note, this was Kuznetsov’s first game of the year in which he played more than 18 minutes and scored (he played 19:25 tonight). Earlier, all eight of his markers came in games where he played less than that.

A few days ago, both Tarasenko and Kuznetsov were named to the Russian National extended roster team for the Karjala Cup, one of four tournaments in the EuroHockeyTour which features the Russian, Czech, Finnish, and Swedish National teams.

Finally, if you visit the KHL’s website, you’ll notice a banner in which they are promoting Traktor and Amur Khabarovsk’s game on Thursday (8AM EST). Featured on it? None other than Kuznetsov and Amur’s Jakub Petruzalek.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Traktor Chelyabinsk’s four-game road trip came to an end today. Over seven days the team traveled from Chelyabinsk to Kazan (two time zones away), Moscow, Mytyschi (which is basically also Moscow), and Riga (three time zones away). After accumulating nine out of twelve standings points and  more than 3,200 miles during the trip, the White Bears now return home for a five-day break from KHL action.

Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov ended a three-game pointless drought today, scoring a late third period goal against Dinamo Riga.

It took a lot of effort and a little bit of luck. As Riga trailed 2-1 late in the game, they pulled their goalie, and the talented Russian winger had what looked to be an easy empty-net goal. Instead, a Riga defender hooked him from behind, sending Kuzya’s shot off the post.

On the ensuing five-on-four powerplay, Traktor got an odd-man break. Kuznetsov and a teammate looked to score again, this time on a two-on-one. Instead, the cross-ice pass was intercepted by former NHL All-Star Sandis Ozolins, and Riga’s net was knocked off its moorings. Because the net displacement was ruled intentional, Traktor got the two-man advantage. Finally, Kuznetsov broke through, rifling a one-timer home on the powerplay.

Kuznetsov’s goal comes at 2:05.

Evgeny’s goal– his eighth of the season– ties him for second place in the KHL. The only player with more is Blues’ prospect Vladimir Tarasenko, who has nine. Two other players have eight: Roman Cervenka and Panthers’ prospect Sergey Shirokov.

Traktor will play their next game at home on Sunday as they face their old rivals, Metallurg Magnitogorsk. With a 3-1 win tonight, Traktor is now back on top of the KHL’s Eastern conference.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

On Sunday, Evgeny Kuznetsov’s Traktor Chelyabinsk played Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (say that three times fast) at home. Kuzya continued his fantastic start to the regular season, scoring two goals in the game, his second of which was his most beautiful on the season. Don’t believe me? Check out the footage after the jump.

Goal #1, Snapshot Off the Face-off

Goal #2, Takes Skate Around Offensive zone, Scores on Wrap-Around

This is a first for the young Caps prospect.

Traktor won the game 4-2 and Kuzya is now tied for the KHL league-lead in goals.

To summarize:

• Kuznetsov’s seven goals ties him for the league-lead with Denis Abdullin, ’01 Red Wings draftee Igor Grigorenko, and KHL superstar Roman Cervenka.
• He has goals in four of the last five games.
• He currently has a five-game point streak.
• Sunday marked the 19-year-old’s first multi-goal, multi-point game of the year.
• It also was his first multi-plus (+2) game of the year

After Traktor’s 4-3 victory over Barys Tuesday, Head Coach Valery Belousov revealed to the media that Evgeny Kuznetsov played sick. Belousov didn’t specify what type of bug Kuznetsov came down with, but with regulars Deron Quint and Raymond Giroux sitting out due to food poisoning, it was pretty easy to connect the dots.

Nonetheless, the young Caps prospect gutted it out and actually managed to score his fifth goal of the year, his most electrifying — and lucky — tally of the season. Let’s review. First, Kuzya delivers an open-ice body check forcing a turnover. Next, as another Barys player tries to defend him, Kuznetsov goes forehand, backhand, and then throws the biscuit between his legs. As this unfolds, the defender tries to clear the puck and accidentally knocks it past his helpless net minder. Game over. To celebrate, Evgeny leaps face-first into the boards to the crowd’s delight.

Kuzentsov’s third period tally puts him in the KHL’s top five in goals (5) and also gives him the league lead in game-winners (3). That’s pretty good for a 19-year-old who sat out most of the offseason due to shoulder surgery and had his minutes limited in the beginning of the season.

Despite being sidelined for the most of the summer recovering from shoulder surgery, Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov has had a great start to the KHL regular season. He’s tallied three goals on the year, most recently the game-winner in Traktor’s 5-2 victory over Torpedo, and has also scored two shootout goals which both pushed the White Bears to victory.

Traktor Head Coach Valery Belousov has brought Kuznetsov along slowly in the first couple of games, burying him on the third line and also limiting his minutes. That has not stopped the 19-year-old forward from being one of the most productive players on the team. He ranks second on the team overall in both goals and shots (25).

Sport-Express’s Alexey Shvetsov caught up with Kuzya after Wednesday’s game and the two discussed Traktor’s “disappointing” start to the regular season, the Lokomotiv tragedy, and Evgeny’s timetable on playing in Washington. RMNB’s Igor Kleyner has your translation below the jump.

Not For Me To Judge The Team

Alexey Shvetsov: This was the first time this season you played on the first line. How did it feel?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Such trust allowed me to relax. I am very thankful to the coach for putting me on the first line.

Alexey Shvetsov: What can you say about Traktor’s start this season? Following a high-powered transfer campaign, it has already been called a disappointment.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I can not judge the team. I think we will achieve our objectives. But so far, we play well in one game, so-so the next one, and totally fall apart in the third. As soon as we achieve some stability, things will get better.

Alexey Shvetsov: You looked pretty good in Nizhny Novgorod.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: You can’t come back from a road trip with no points. After the very unpleasant defeat in St Petersburg, we made some adjustments, which led to the victory.

Alexey Shvetsov: In almost every game you lead your team in shots on goal, at least five in every game. To paraphrase a classic soccer quote – I shot, I shoot, I will always shoot? (original by the great Zenit SpB striker Alexander Kerzhakov – “бил, бью и буду бить.”)

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Yes, it is true. Every forward should try to finish the attack by shooting the puck. Andrey Nazarov, who gave me a chance to play for Traktor when I was 17-years-old told me: the more you shoot, the more goals you score. And fewer chances for turnovers, for counterattacks. I try to follow this rule.

I Don’t Want To Go To Washington Yet

Alexey Shvetsov: Every season you get more and more ice time. This year you average about 18 minutes per game. Is it hard to play so much at your age or do you feel you are ready for more?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I can play more. I am gradually returning to form following my injury, feeling better and better. The main thing is not to stop. For now I just need to concentrate on hockey. I know that a lot is expected of our team, we have to meet the expectations.

Alexey Shvetsov: Are you strongly influenced by the press and by the pubic opinion?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: No, not much. But now, when the situation is not very good for our team, I must concentrate on nothing but hockey.

Alexey Shvetsov: You have a lot of responsibilities on the ice, even killing penalties. Will you have enough strength for the whole season?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Yes, I will. I trust our fitness coach and [Head Coach] Valery Belousov.

Alexey Shvetsov: We hear you have definitely decided that this will be your last season in Russia. Is this correct?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: It’s a difficult question. For now, I don’t want to go anywhere. It will all depend on how I play this season. Of course, if I am offered a contract by Washington, I will have to think about it. But personally, I would like to play more in my home town, where everybody knows me and likes me. The club’s management met all of the conditions during summer, so now I just need to play well. Which is what I am working on.

Alexey Shvetsov: Do you see yourself on any other KHL club?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: No, I will not move to any other Russian club from Traktor. At least that’s what I think right now. I grew up in Chelyabinsk and owe everything to the club.

Alexey Shvetsov: The World Junior Championship is not far off. Last year you were one of the youngest players, this time everybody sees you as the leader of the team.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: What am I, a veteran now? (laughing) Last year we were not divided into younger and older ones, we were one. We won because of our unity and character.

The Winning Goal A Gift For My Mother

Alexey Shvetsov: Two of your teammates from that Sbornaya – Urychev and Sobchenko – recently died in a plane crash.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: It was very hard. But this is life, and you can’t get away from it. I think we in Russia must be more responsible for such routine things. Because in America, people check, and double check, before a departure is approved. Everything is strictly by the book. Here, if there is a small mistake, people just look the other way. I don’t want to offend anybody, I don’t know any details. But I fly a lot, and I see the condition some of the planes are in. Yes, we are regular people, but we pay a lot of money for our flights, and the planes must be safe and reliable. Otherwise, we are just not going to fly anymore, God forbid something like this happens again.

Alexey Shvetsov: After the tragedy in Yaroslavl, did you think it was time to leave for Washington?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: But it’s not safe to fly even to the US. Because you have to take a flight from Chelyabinsk to Moscow first.

Alexey Shvetsov: The KHL dedicated this season to Lokomotiv. What about you personally?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: First of all, my family, my wife, and my close ones. My mother’s birthday is September 28th. My winning goal in Nizhny Novgorod is my birthday gift to her.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland (who, yes, has pneumonia).