Capitals Evgeny Kuznetsov Doesn't Care What Anyone Thinks About His Enragingly Slow Shootout Attempts

Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov is known for lulling crowds to sleep with his insufferably slow shootout attempts, and guess what? He doesn't care what you or I think about it.

If you're unfamiliar, Kuznetsov's habit of traveling at a snail's pace on penalty shots is well-known around the league. So much so that it has even become known as the "Kuzy Crawl."

It drives goalies crazy, primarily because it works.

Here he is just a couple of days ago making Carolina's Pyotr Kochetkov's job exceedingly difficult.

Despite a dry spell with it recently, Kuznetsov has a stellar 44.4 percent shootout percentage. Couple that with teammate TJ Oshie's 47.6 percent rate and the Caps are deadly beyond 3-on-3 overtime.

Kuznetsov's methodology has drawn some criticism, however, he made it very clear in an interview with The Hockey News that he really doesn't care if his shootout attempts get under peoples' skin.

"I don't give a f--- what they think," he said. "I know people may not like, but you know, so far it's been working for me."

Yeah, Kuzy. That's why everyone gets so frustrated with it. It's annoyingly slow, but if it didn't work he would have stopped doing it and sped up his approach years ago.

But alas, it's incredibly effective. Unless the NHL institutes some kind of shot clock (which they shouldn't) expect to see the Kuzy Crawl for years to come...

Unless the NHL gets rid of shootouts, which is the correct way to solve its Evgeny Kuznetsov problem.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle