What's the end game for the Canucks and Kuzmenko?

Andrei Kuzmenko’s smile is gone, and so is the patience of his head coach. Just one year removed from a 39-goal campaign in his first NHL season, Kuzmenko will be lucky to score 20 for the Vancouver Canucks in year two.

Rick Tocchet had tough love for Kuzmenko not long after taking over as Canucks head coach last January. He seemed to immediately identify holes in the Russian winger’s game, but he also seemed upbeat and hopeful that Kuzmenko would be able to fix them.

The tone has changed with Tocchet and with Kuzmenko as well.

Kuzmenko had goals in back-to-back games against Tampa Bay and Florida last week, but after just two more games, Tocchet has decided to sit the skilled winger in Nashville. This comes on the heels of Kuzmenko seeing just 11:09 of ice time in Chicago.

It’s also not far removed from Kuzmenko being healthy-scratched in Seattle and San Jose on November 24 and 25.

Tocchet hasn’t been pleased with Kuzmenko’s two-way game, but his offence has dried up also, with just 17 points (6-11-17) in 29 games.

Some may point out that Kuzmenko is playing on the fourth line, making it harder to pick up points. But the winger had over a month getting every opportunity you could hope for — first-line minutes with Elias Pettersson and time on the top power-play unit. And he’s still getting time on PP1, for the most part, when he’s in the lineup.

Vancouver’s power play has been excellent this season, operating at 25.4%, which is sixth-best in the NHL. And while everyone else on PP1 has racked up power-play points with regularity, Kuzmenko has just six. By comparison, J.T. Miller has 20, Pettersson and Quinn Hughes have 16, and Brock Boeser has 12.

The numbers at even strength look even worse, with Kuzmenko ranking 11th on the team with 11 even-strength points behind players like Dakota Joshua, Tyler Myers, Sam Lafferty, and Nils Höglander.

Kuzmenko is averaging 14:53 of ice time this season, behind the 16:15 he played one year ago.

Tocchet is pushing Kuzmenko to be better, and so far, Kuzmenko has said all the right things publicly.

But the question is, what is the end game here?

The Canucks have a lot invested in the 27-year-old forward, notably $5.5 million per season for this year and next. But without Kuzmenko playing up to his abilities, there’s a gaping hole on Pettersson’s wing.

With the team near the top of the NHL standings, Tocchet has the luxury of being able to sit Kuzmenko right now, and certainly, seeing Lafferty pile up points with Pettersson helped send a message.

If Kuzmenko figures it out and regains Tocchet’s trust, there’s hope he can find his scoring touch again. But what if they can’t coexist?

“Trying to win a game tonight, and I felt this was the best lineup,” Tocchet said, explaining his decision to bench Kuzmenko again before Tuesday’s game against the Predators.

It’s a damning statement.

GM Patrik Allvin has a decision to make on Kuzmenko. If they believe in him, they’ll keep him and hope he resembles the player we saw in Vancouver last season — minus some puck-luck given his high shooting percentage in 2022-23. But if they deem Kuzmenko as not a player who can thrive under Tocchet, then maybe they will consider dealing him.

One look at Boeser should remind you that selling low usually isn’t a good idea. The organization was ready to move on from him not long ago, but Boeser figured it out.

Can Kuzmenko?

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