SportsHockeyCanucksFlames

Kuzmenko draws rave reviews from Kings teammates after surprise playoff performance

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
|
Apr 24 2025, 7:11 pm
Kuzmenko draws rave reviews from Kings teammates after surprise playoff performance
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images

Andrei Kuzmenko has quickly changed the narrative on what was looking like a disastrous 2024-25 season.

The 29-year-old, a pending UFA, looked as though he may be forced to head back overseas following the 2024-25 campaign, with just four goals and 15 points in 37 games with the Calgary Flames, while also sitting as a healthy scratch for several games.

Kuzmenko wound up being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in late January, before being dealt once again at the trade deadline to the LA Kings. While not much was made of this move at the time, it’s quickly proving to be one of the better deadline deals throughout the entire NHL.

The highly talented Russian winger has fit in perfectly with the Kings, helping form a very dynamic first line that also features Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe.

“He’s been a really good addition for us right since he got here,” Kopitar said days ago. “We’re going to need him to play like that going forward and to keep making plays and making sure that him and us as a line are responsible and keep being productive.”

Kuzmenko wound up scoring five goals and 17 points in 22 regular-season games with the Kings, and has been even better to begin the playoffs.

“He’s been great ever since he came in,” Adrian Kempe said following a 6-2 win in Game 2. “It’s hard coming in at the deadline, playing with a completely new system, completely new players and all that kind of stuff. He’s been doing a great job. He wants to learn the system as quick as he can. He’s asking us, ‘What can I do better? What can we do better?’

“He’s always chatting us up, which has been helping us out a lot too. We’ve been having a hot streak here lately, and he’s been helping that a lot, especially on the power play. He’s such a threat down low. That opens up stuff for me, stuff for Kevin [Fiala], for [Quinton Byfield], for everybody. Great add for us since the deadline. I’m really happy to play with him.”

Having success after joining a new team is nothing new for Kuzmenko, who was red hot with the Flames in 2023-24 after being acquired in a trade in February. He wound up scoring 14 goals and 25 points in 29 games to close out that season.

The same situation took place with the Vancouver Canucks, as he scored a career-high 39 goals and 74 points in what was his rookie NHL season, before going on to put up just eight goals and 21 points in 43 games to begin the 2023-24 campaign prior to being traded.

His past struggles over longer tenures with past organizations may have the Kings hesitant when it comes to any sort of long-term extension, but regardless of how his future in LA plays out, the decision to bring him in at the deadline appears to have been a very wise call by Kings GM Rob Blake.

ADVERTISEMENT