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Report on Evgeny Kuznetzov From Top Insider Exposed as Being Completely Fake

Originally posted on House of Hockey | By Tom Banks | Last updated Jul 18, 2025 7:27 PM ET

Evgeny Kuznetsov's return to the NHL appears imminent, but now a recent report from Frank Seravalli about his contract demands have been debunked as fake.

After a fantastic start to his career with the Washington Capitals, the past few years have been a whirlwind for Evgeny Kuznetsov, who return to the KHL this past season after struggling to garner much interest from NHL teams.

Playing for SKA St. Petersburg, the 33-year old Kuznetsov tallied 12 goals and 37 points in 39 games played, and now, he's seeking a return to the NHL after 11 seasons in the league thus far.

That brings us to a report from Frank Seravalli, who noted on a recent episode of the Hello Hockey podcast that Kuznetsov was looking for a deal in the $1-2 million range with performance bonuses on top of that.

The only problem is, Kuznetsov isn't eligible for any performance bonuses on his next deal, as PuckPedia lays out the requirements to be eligible for those.

-Entry-Level Contract Players
-Players that are 35 years or older and sign a 1 year contract

-Players with a minimum of 400 NHL Games Played signing a 1 year contract after having a long-term injury. A long-term injury is defined as a player on Injured Reserve for a minimum of 100 days in the last year.

Unfortunately for Kuznetsov, he doesn't fit any of these categories, meaning that there's simply no way for him to receive performance bonuses, and for someone like Seravalli, a top Insider in the NHL, that's a very bad look.

Ultimately, there's going to be a team out there that gives Kuznetsov a deal to return to the NHL in 2025/26, but now we know that Seravalli's report was wrong, and it won't be able to be a performance based deal like one we saw from Jonathan Toews.

This article first appeared on House of Hockey and was syndicated with permission.

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