Evgeny Kuznetsov publicly apologizes for "putting himself in a bad situation"

Remembrance Day, a video went viral on Reddit's Evgeny Kuznetsov sat by a friend with two lines of a white powdery substance.

Kuznetsov denied taking drugs that day with Sport-Express in a statement in Russian. Friday, he redid it in English in an email sent by the capitals.

Kuznetsov claimed that he "had never taken illegal drugs in my life and career" and apologized for "getting into a bad situation".

"I would like to address the video of me that appeared online Monday," said Kuznetsov. "Even though I have never used illegal drugs in my life and career, I would like to apologize publicly to the Capitals, my teammates, our fans, and all the others for making me feel better. be put in a bad situation. It was a hard lesson to learn for me.

The capitals have fully accepted Kuznetsov's explanations and it seems that they will not pursue any punishment or recourse.

"In addition to doing due diligence, we met with Evgeny to discuss the social media video," said the Capitals. "Although we are disappointed by his presence in the video, we accept his explanations and apologies for putting himself in an unfortunate situation. Evgeny has been a great player and an active member of our community. We expect him to learn from this experience and respect the standards established by the organization for him and for his own. "

The NHL considers the case closed.

"We reviewed in detail the situation surrounding the video broadcast on the Internet on Monday, May 27th, involving capital player Evgeny Kuznetsov," said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly in a separate statement. "Our examination included, among other fact-finding stages, a personal interview with Mr. Kuznetsov. Although we did not approve or endorse some of the decisions that he had made on the night in question, Mr. Kuznetsov's account of the events that occurred coincides with other information that we have and we found no reason to question his statements as to what happened and what did not happen. We consider that the question is officially closed. "