NASHVILLE, TN - JANUARY 29: Head Coach Barry Trotz of the Washington Capitals speaks during Media Day for the 2016 NHL All-Star Game at Bridgestone Arena on January 29, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

NASHVILLE – When Barry Trotz was hired to coach the Washington Capitals in the summer of 2014, young forward Evgeny Kuznetsov heard his new bench boss had trouble mining offense out of forwards – specifically young Russians.

The stigma came from Trotz’s time coaching Alexander Radulov with the Nashville Predators. The two famously clashed multiple times. Radulov left for Russia in 2008, returned in 2012 and then was suspended in the playoffs by Nashville. He eventually left again and from that point on a dark cloud followed Trotz – that his inability to work with Radulov and force defense on him, cost Nashville their best scorer in team history.

This did worry the 23-year-old Kuznetsov initially, until he got to know Trotz as a person and quickly found out the coach didn’t care about age or nationality.

“I don’t know the whole situation but before Barry came I know some guys told me ‘it’s not good for Russians’ but it’s not (like that) right now,” Kuznetsov said. “He doesn’t watch your passport. He doesn’t really care, if you’re Russian or Swedish. He’s a nice person.”

When he was fired by the Nashville Predators in April of 2014 it was intimated Trotz couldn’t coach offense and couldn’t coach Russians, and couldn’t develop younger scorers.

With the Capitals Trotz has busted all those stereotypes about him as a head coach.

“When he came the first year, I thought he was the typical defensive coach, but no he’s not,” Kuznetsov said. He gives you space and time to create offense and he wants you to do the right things in the defensive zone and neutral zone and not make stupid mistakes. They give you a lot of opportunity to make offensive plays. If you’re going to do the right things every day, not even gameday, you’re going to feel comfortable and he will give you more time and he will trust you too.”

When Trotz first got to the Capitals in place of the fired Adam Oates, a lot was made of his relationship with Ovechkin, a native of Moscow. But making Kuznetsov a dominant offensive player was almost as much of a key for Trotz.

Kuznetsov was a center and the Capitals were heavily reliant on Nicklas Backstrom as the team’s No. 1 middleman. Being able to make Kuznetsov a viable player would give the Caps the 1-2 punch at center that contending teams need in today’s NHL.

Trotz got Ovechkin to quickly buy in last year, but Kuznetsov took more work. He had played in the KHL and Trotz needed the young pivot to know that the North American game involved more grit and effort per-shift.

“He was an elite player in the KHL and then came to the NHL and it’s a lot different game. There’s tighter spaces, you have to stay in the battle a little longer,” Trotz said. “I think European games you find, and I’ve done some Hockey Canada stuff with the World Championships or what have you – the game is one and done over there, you get one chance and here it’s almost like a machine gun. You get 1-2-3 shots and you sort of either score or survive that onslaught. Just got him to stay in the battle a little bit longer."

Last postseason, Kuznetsov started to show his prodigious talent with five goals and seven points in 14 games. This season, he’s taken his game to a new level, leading the Capitals with 49 points in 47 games.

Ovechkin, who recently scored his 500th NHL goal, gets a lot of the attention with the Caps, but Kuznetsov’s play this year has turned Washington into the NHL’s top team.

“The thing that’s separated our teams from teams in the past this year is basically Evgeny Kuznetsov,” Washington goaltender Braden Holtby said. “We all knew what Nick (Backstrom) could do and there was a ton of weight on his shoulders at all times because of how he plays in all three zones and he had to do more work and every game.

“Kuzy has come into his own as a ‘number one’ center. So we have two ‘number one’ centers with great support on the wings.”

Kuznetsov isn’t the only young forward Trotz has brought along. Andre Burakovsky, a 2013 first-round draft pick has 19 points in 44 games this year, and at times has looked like a star in the making playing with Kuznetsov. The only real mark for Trotz is Tom Wilson, a 2012 first-round pick, who has turned into more of a bruiser than a goal scorer. But he still plays a valuable role for Washington, giving them some offensive skill on lower lines.

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