The Vancouver Canucks won the Andrei Kuzmenko sweepstakes and now the highly-coveted Russian forward will sport the number of one of the team’s biggest legends.Ā
Kuzmenko will wear Pavel Bure’s former No. 96 with Vancouver, the team revealed in a host of jersey number announcements on Twitter on Tuesday.Ā The highly-coveted free agent signing has worn No. 96 with SKA St. Petersburg and with Russia’s national team.
These names look good in the Blue and Green!
Check out the jersey numbers for our newest #Canucks šµš¢
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) July 26, 2022
The 26-year-old forward signed a one-year, entry-level contract with the Canucks and will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next season. He finished second in KHL scoring last season with 53 points (20-33-53) in 45 games.Ā
Bure, who had 478 points (254 goals, 224 assists) in 428 games over seven seasons with the Canucks from 1991-1998, switched from No. 10 to No. 96 in 1995, and wore the number until he switched back for the 1997-98 season, saying, āIām not superstitious, but the last two seasons have been bad memories.ā
The Canucks also announced that fellow free agent signing Ilya Mikheyev will wear No. 65. He was signed to a four-year contract with an average annual value of $4.75 million on July 13. The 27-year-old put up NHL career-highs in 2021-22 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring 21 goals while adding 11 assists in 53 games.
Mikheyev wore No. 65 with the Maple Leafs.
Curtis Lazar, also signed on July 13, will sport his familiar No. 20. Lazar, who inked a three-year pact, has worn the number with the Boston Bruins from 2020-2022 and with the Calgary Flames from 2016-2019.
Lazar had 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in 70 games with the Bruins last season, and has 90 points (35 goals, 55 assists) in 404 career NHL games.
Forward Dakota Joshua, signed to a two-year, one-way deal, will wear No. 81, and goaltender Collin Delia, added on a one-year, one-way contract, will wear No. 60, the team revealed.Ā
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