Everyone by now is well aware of Evgeny Kuznetzov's past dealings with cocaine. Kuznetsov tested positive while playing for Russia at the world championship in May of 2019. He received a four-year ban from international play. This was after a video had surfaced of him in a hotel room with what appeared to be lines of cocaine on a coffee table, which Kuznetzov admitted had been taken when Washington was facing the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup final in 2018. At the time, he denied any drug use. After the international suspension, Kuznetzov was suspended for the first three games of the 2019-20 NHL season by the league for lying about using drugs.
Saturday night, Kuznetzov and the Washington Capitals took on the Vegas Golden Knights. After the Caps won 5-2, Kuznetzov took part in a post game interview with Al Koken, affectionately known to Washington fans as "Smokin' Al." Koken phrased his question this way: "Mentioning Vegas, is there still a little buzz when you see these guys after the Stanley Cup championship over them?" Take a look:
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To be clear, we don't think Koken meant to tease or target Kuznetzov with his question, it was simply an innocent poor choice of words. You could see a smile on Kuznetzov's face immediately and, if you didn't catch his quick response, it was "It's coming to my side now, yeah?" Kuznetzov seemed to acknowledge the possible connection and laugh it off.
