- Sibir Novosibirsk signed Evgeny Kuznetsov to a one-year KHL contract for 2026-27
- His new coach asked the club for a queen, and Kuznetsov answered that on day one
- Read below for the contract terms and the numbers behind his last two KHL seasons
Evgeny Kuznetsov found a team, and he is going a long way east to play for it.
Sibir Novosibirsk announced Saturday that the 34-year-old center signed a one-year deal for the 2026-27 season. Sibir head coach Yaroslav Lyuzenkov had spent training camp telling anyone who asked that his club needed a center, and not just any center. He wanted a queen, he said, not just some piece on the chess table.
Kuznetsov opened his introduction to the city by picking that line right up.
“Hello, Novosibirsk! As they said, the next signing will be a queen, so it turns out I’m a queen. That’s what they called me. So, I’ll be a queen. I want to congratulate everyone on the upcoming season. I’m very happy to join the team. I can’t wait to hit the ice in Novosibirsk. So, long live Sibir.”
Here is Sibir making it official:
The money is modest by his old standards and heavily tilted toward production. Kuznetsov’s base salary is 35 million rubles, roughly $427,000 US, according to Match TV. Bonuses can add up to another 42 million rubles, with the biggest chunk, 10 million, tied to hitting 55 points.
Everything clicking would put him around 77 million rubles, or about $940,000.
This is his fourth KHL stop since the start of the 2024-25 season. SKA St. Petersburg came first, then Metallurg Magnitogorsk, then Salavat Yulaev.
Splitting last season between Metallurg and Salavat, he put up 27 points on seven goals and 20 assists in 34 regular-season games, then added a goal and an assist across seven playoff contests.
Nobody has ever questioned the hands. Take a look at what he did to a KHL goalie on a penalty shot:
North American fans know the résumé. Kuznetsov played 743 regular-season games for the Capitals and Hurricanes and piled up 575 points, 173 goals and 402 assists, with a Stanley Cup in Washington in 2018. He mutually terminated his Carolina contract in July 2024 and has been in Russia ever since.
Getting here took most of the summer. Dinamo Minsk was in on him earlier, and we covered that contract offer back in July, with Traktor Chelyabinsk and clubs in Switzerland also linked along the way.
He spent part of the offseason skating in summer league games back in the Washington area. Now he reports to Siberia as the piece his coach spent all camp asking for.
