Evgeny Kuznetsov denies cocaine use after viral video surfaces

A video has circulated online that shows Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov in a hotel room sitting in front of a table with what appears to be two lines of cocaine. The video has since been deleted from Twitter, where it was originally posted.

Kuznetsov has since issued a statement to sport-express.ru, which was translated by popular Capitals blog Russian Machine Never Breaks. With his statement, Kuznetsov says that the video was taken last summer in Las Vegas after the Capitals won the Stanley Cup, and he also denied any involvement with the substance or ever doing drugs himself.

Kuznetsov is not seen using cocaine in the video and welcomed any testing to prove his sobriety.

His translated statement read:

Yes, I saw the video on the internet. I don’t necessarily have anything to do with what is going on around me. I never used drugs and have no intention to get into it. If there are any questions, I am ready to undergo testing.

The video is a year old. It happened in summer of 2018, when we won the cup in Vegas. It has nothing to do with the World Championship at all. I just came by the room where my some people I knew stayed. When I saw what was going on there – unfamiliar women, unknown substances on the table – I called my friend and left as soon as I could.

Unfortunately, someone decided to catch some notoriety just now – after the [Russian team] lost. I have nothing to hide, let this be on conscience of whoever posted the video.

The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan has obtained this comment from a Capitals spokesperson:

“We are aware of the video that surfaced on social media of Evgeny Kuznetsov. We are currently in the process of gathering facts and will have no further comment at this time."

We’ll update this post if any new information comes to light.

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