Price is Right: What should we expect from Kuzmenko in second Canucks season?

With the Vancouver Canucks making numerous new headlines in the past 24 hours alone, from injuries to trade requests to roster cuts, it seems like forever since Andrei Kuzmenko was stirring it up with a somewhat rogue summer trip to Bali.

But since then, it’s been pretty quiet around the Canucks’ Russian star, and that’s probably a good thing, because if you look too closely at his season last year you might be tempted to expect a lot.

I think everyone remembers his goals. After all, we saw that playful grin in celebration a whole 39 times last season. It was pretty amazing to see for a guy in his first NHL season, after a career spent in the KHL. But what you may not have picked up on was the overall production. This was not a case of a guy that is purely a sniper. We often call them Cy Young winners — 20 goals, 10 assists; 30 goals, 15 assists — a big ratio of wins to losses if you will, you get the idea.

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But that wasn’t Kuzmenko. He had 39 goals and 35 assists. In fact, last season he had one month of even goals and assists, and two more where he had more helpers than goals.

Does he tap in a lot of goals because of his good positioning and finishing? Yeah, sure he does. But let’s not underestimate his ability to be a part of the offensive machine in other ways.

He’s not a setup man per se, don’t mistake me. He’s one of the team leaders in second assists, not primary helpers (only 14 of those). But he’s clearly not a guy like Alex Chiasson, and he’s not even Chris Kreider, who by the way, has 88 goals over his past two seasons, just 43 assists. Kuzmenko though, has balance.

Or at least, that’s what Kuzmenko showed us last season. So what does he have in store for an encore? Can he build on that still, or even repeat it? 74 points turns into what this season? We’ll find out soon how he adjusts to Rick Tocchet’s system, and whether the Canucks have truly hit the jackpot with this free agent find.

And if he gets off to a rip-roaring start, maybe Kuzmenko’s teammates should start packing. As Tocchet promised: “If he scores 60, I think we’re all going to Bali.”