Coach makes wild claims that Evgeny Kuznetsov is better than Connor McDavid

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Cooper Godin
July 26, 2024 (9:22)

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A coach in the KHL made a bold claim this week, saying that Evgeny Kuznetsov is better than Connor McDavid.

Roman Rotenberg, head coach of KHL club SKA St. Petersburg, made quite the bold claim during an interview this week with Russian media outlet Match TV when asked about Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Kuznetsov, who saw his time in the NHL end recently after being placed on unconditional waivers for mutual contract termination, is set to be signed by SKA St. Petersburg in the coming days and his new coach, Rotenberg, said that the team's latest addition is better than superstar Connor McDavid.

Note: the quotes in this story are translated from Russian.

"� Better than Connor McDavid?" Rotenberg was asked.

He replied with "- Of course. He has a crazy motivation to prove it to everyone, as he did in the 2018 playoffs with Washington. Then Zhenya became the top scorer of the tournament and won the Stanley Cup."

This outrageous claim by Roman Rotenberg is ridiculous for starters and can't be backed up by statistics. Sure, Kuznetsov led the NHL in points in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs and hoisted the trophy that same year with the Capitals, but those two achievements alone don't make him better than Connor McDavid.

During his 11-year career in the NHL, Kuznetsov finished with 575 points in 743 regular season games. To put that in perspective, McDavid surpassed that mark in the first game of his seventh NHL season. McDavid currently sits at 982 points in 645 games through nine seasons in the National Hockey League.

It's not surprising to see Roman Rotenberg say something like this and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone else in the hockey community around the world that agree with his claim.

Source: Match TV
"SKA is putting together a roster to win the Gagarin Cup, the club is ready to make trades to comply with the salary cap" - Rotenberg