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A week ago in the final minutes of Traktor’s 2-1 win over Spartak, Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov absorbed an awkward hit near the end boards and suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury. Kuznetsov, who can be seen writhing on the ice in pain, was then taken to a local Cheylabinsk hospital where an MRI of his knee came back clean. Accordingly, Traktor Chelyabinsk’s official website announced that Kuznetsov had a bruised knee and would only miss a week of time, meaning he would be ready for the start of the KHL playoffs.

Well, not so fast! The next day, Kuznetsov flew to Germany to have European doctors take a closer look at his knee. On that flight over, Kuznetsov announced on Twitter that he’d be out three to five weeks because of the injury. After being examined, Kuznetsov gave no update on whether the diagnosis had changed.

The saga continued this past Thursday after Traktor defeated Yugra 3-1 in the first game of their KHL playoff series. Traktor’s head coach Valery Belousov told the Russian media that “Kuznetsov is on crutches for now. Don’t expect him to come back very soon.” Suffice to say, that must be one heck of a bruise to put a 19-year-old athlete on crutches.

Meanwhile, the normally chatty Kuznetsov has avoided the media altogether lately, but that wasn’t the case a few weeks ago when he went on Russia-2′s “Week of Sports” to accept the prestigious honor of being named “Russian Athlete of the Month” for January. During the fascinating ten-minute interview, host Alexey Popov asks Kuznetsov about a variety of things including the Outdoor Game he recently played in, his feelings about winning silver in the World Junior Championships, and his relationship with the Capitals. Below I offer a translation.

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