6 Offseason Trades and Landing Spots for Capitals Center Evgeny Kuznetsov

The Washington Capitals are racing headlong into a crossroad for their franchise.

Five years ago, they took out the Vegas Golden Knights to win the first Stanley Cup in team history. This season, they put up 80 points, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and will pick at No. 8 in the NHL draft.

Times change and players age, or need a change of scenery. Evgeny Kuznetsov, a key member of that Stanley Cup-winning team, might be one of the players the Capitals can trade to keep their dream of claiming another Cup with their veteran core mostly intact.

Rumors popped up at the end of this season that Kuznetsov wanted a trade. A report from a Russian TV station said he had requested a trade from Washington, but he mildly denied it days later. Nevertheless, he did leave open the possibility he could play elsewhere next season.

It's a bit of smoke which means there could be a bit of fire, and that's all it takes to get the imagination working to create trade scenarios that could work out.

The 31-year-old has two years left on his contract with a $7.8 million cap hit. He's piled up 551 points in 10 NHL seasons. He has dynamic playmaking ability, highlight-reel talent and one of the most controversial shootout moves out there.

Where could he go? Let's examine a few ideas and grease up the rumor mill while we're at it.

It's obvious to pick teams tight to the cap ceiling to move big-money players to Arizona in a trade.

Of course, the obvious happens because there's truth surrounding the circumstances and there are truths that make a Coyotes-Capitals partnership for Kuznetsov work out: The Coyotes have oodles of cap space and they have a desperate need for more talent at forward.

Take a look at what the Coyotes' roster looks like right now on CapFriendly,com and it will be clear why they would make sense.

It's even more apparent when you see their depth chart. Arizona's 2022 first-round pick, Logan Cooley, won't be around until 2024 at the earliest. They'll have Dylan Guenther there full-time next season, and they've got Matias Maccelli and star forward Clayton Keller giving fans in the desert hope...but they don't have a player with star power and a highlight reel to go with it. Kuznetsov would help address that.

If there's a question that sticks out here it's what would the Capitals want in return? Washington still has hopes of winning another Stanley Cup and injuries sent their season into a tailspin this year.

What Arizona can't exactly offer are the pieces needed to satisfy the Caps' needs for the immediate future that could also help them in years down the road. After all, the Coyotes are a ways away from being a true contender and the Caps' window is closing on them, if not shut already.

If one or the other feels desperation to make something happen, then just maybe Kuznetsov could find his way to the desert.

Once the Chicago Blackhawks draft Connor Bedard in a couple of weeks in Nashville, Tennessee, they'll have a megastar to build around.

Seth Jones and Connor Murphy will be there on the defensive side, but apart from that, they don't have a lot to work with.

Chicago does have a lot of draft picks to work with this year (11) and much more salary-cap space to play with which makes them a perfect team to call on Kuznetsov.

Chicago has some young prospects on the way, and with Bedard joining the fray, it won't be too long before they're back in the playoff mix. But in order to do that, they'll need a bigger influx of talent and skill, and Kuznetsov has that in bunches.

To give perspective on how things were for Chicago last season, Kuzentsov's 55 points would have led them in scoring. The team's top two scorers last season, Max Domi and Patrick Kane, were both traded by the deadline and still led the team in points. Yeah, the Blackhawks weren't good and no matter how dynamic Bedard plays next season, they're still not going to be very good.

Kuznetsov isn't a 100-percent-cure-all to fix what will ail the Blackhawks, but he can help bridge the gap and even establish himself as a veteran guide as part of what will be a very young group.

The Sharks are in an awkward space in their history.

They're not a great team, and they should be actively trying to rebuild, but they've got established star players like Erik Karlsson, Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture. They also have young talent such as William Eklund, Thomas Bordeleau and Filip Bystedt, but they're a team in transition.

They're going to draft a very good player with the fourth pick in this year's draft, but they need a lot more as soon as possible if they want to get close to the playoff race soon.

Adding Kuznetsov to the mix won't fix all the issues they've got with their lineup, but it will give them someone they can use to better lift up the next wave of young stars to come.

It might seem odd to add a player like Kuznetsov to this group, but when the young talent isn't quite at the top level you need and there aren't enough outstanding veteran players, adding another superb vet to the group gives everyone a lift.

The Sharks need a lift in a few areas on their roster, and you're not going to fix what ails them in one offseason. Kuznetsov being there for the next two seasons would allow for stabilization up front.

The Detroit Red Wings have high hopes of returning to the playoffs and they've got a lot of reasons to believe they can do it.

Reasons like Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider are good ones to believe in the future. But despite the influx of young talent, they're thin at key positions, particularly when it comes to offensive firepower. Enter Kuznetsov.

Adding the Russian would allow the Red Wings to slide Andrew Copp to a third-line center role where his defensive strengths would show through and his offensive capabilities would overwhelm other teams' depth players.

Kuznetsov would also give wingers like Dominik Kubalik, Jonatan Berggren and Robby Fabbri a super-skilled center to work with and young center Marco Kasper someone to be his understudy.

The Red Wings have other areas that perhaps have more important positions to address in the offseason, but they have question marks up front that may answer themselves positively with the growth and development of their youngsters.

The Red Wings have missed the playoffs each year since 2016 and since they brought franchise icon Steve Yzerman back as general manager, everyone is antsy to get back to the postseason.

If there's one team that feels guaranteed to have a dramatic offseason this summer, it's the Winnipeg Jets.

The rumors swirling around Pierre-Luc Dubois are moving at tornadic strength and coach Rick Bowness' harsh words following their playoff exit against Vegas have many of their veteran players feeling sore about the situation, so they're ripe for change.

Bringing in a Stanley Cup-winning center to fix things up and straighten out the mood could go a long way.

Kuznetsov is a mostly easy-going, fun-loving kind of player, and the Jets could stand to lighten the mood. His exciting talent fits in well with the likes of Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers, and having defensemen like Josh Morrissey and Neal Pionk to spring him for breakouts makes the idea intriguing.

The Jets are a playoff team, after all, and if they're going to lose Dubois and perhaps other names this summer, a player of Kuznetsov's caliber would go a long way to smoothing things over and keeping the Jets in the playoff discussion in the Central Division. Mixing him in with Bowness' defensive-leaning system would ideally keep his weaknesses hidden.

The Jets will need help and the Capitals will need a team willing to make a bold move to take part in a trade. The stars are aligned here to make it happen.

The Avalanche having Gabriel Landeskog's eventual LTIR placement there to allow them to spend his cap hit on will help make their offseason a lot more interesting.

That's the fun spin on them being without their captain for the entire upcoming season, but the downside is they'll be in search of a player to help pick up the offensive slack that his absence will leave behind.

Landeskog's $7 million cap hit going on LTIR makes adding Kuznetsov's $7.8 million cap hit a lot easier to do and the truth is the Avalanche could stand to use a highly skilled center to play behind Nathan MacKinnon as well.

When Nazem Kadri left for Calgary in free agency, JT Compher and Alex Newhook played well on their second and third lines, but they still went out and added Lars Eller to help their depth at center.

Bringing in Kuznetsov would go a long way to boosting depth wingers Evan Rodrigues and Artturi Lehkonen and giving the Avalanche more offensive punch behind superstars MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.

If there's something that gets in the way of getting these two together to make a deal, it's that Colorado lacks a lot of what would help bring Washington to the table to make it happen.

Colorado doesn't have a second, third- or fourth-round pick this season and doesn't have second or third-round picks next year, either. Their prospect depth isn't so hot, although it may be slightly better than Washington's, and that means making a hockey trade that could prove difficult given how big Kuznetsov's contract is.

A deal here makes sense, but the logistics could be really difficult.