Kuzmenko will be a healthy scratch for Canucks tonight

The Vancouver Canucks are playing in Seattle tonight, but it doesn’t look like Andrei Kuzmenko will suit up.

Kuzmenko appears to be headed for a healthy scratch, as head coach Rick Tocchet kept him out of line rushes this morning, shown below by Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy.

McWard and Aman have joined the #canucks in Seattle. Some tweaks to lines if my eyes aren’t failing me.

65 40 18
21 88 34
72 9 6
8 53 81

43 17
57 51
82 47

Kuzmenko, McWard and Hirose odd men out.

— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) November 24, 2023

After the morning skate, Tocchet told reporters that Kuzmenko “needs a reset,” according to TSN’s Farhan Lalji.

Tocchet says “Kuzy needs a reset. I think he needs to get his game a little sharper. When you’re not scoring you’ve gotta make sure of your details in your own end. He’s thinking too much. There are some systems stuff that we need to count to be in these positions.” #Canucks

— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) November 24, 2023

Sam Lafferty took Kuzmenko’s spot on Elias Pettersson’s line, with Ilya Mikheyev on the other wing. Nils Aman, who was called up from Abbotsford this morning, looks like he’ll draw into the lineup, centring Nils Höglander and Phil Di Giuseppe. Anthony Beauvillier, who saw time on J.T. Miller’s line in Colorado on Wednesday, was skating with Miller and Brock Boeser.

It appears the Canucks will go with two defencemen on their first power-play unit tonight, as Filip Hronek took Kuzmenko’s spot at practice, according to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre.

With Kuzmenko flipping pucks to himself at centre ice, Filip Hronek is practising on PP1 instead of him.

— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) November 24, 2023

There’s good news on the injury front on the back end, as both Tyler Myers and Mark Friedman skated.

Mark Friedman and Tyler Myers both taking part in morning skate pic.twitter.com/zGsmFD6Kya

— Kate Pettersen (@CanucksReporter) November 24, 2023

Kuzmenko has missed one game this season, but that was due to taking a puck to the face. While Tocchet has offered tough love for Kuzmenko before, this is the first time he has scratched the Russian star when healthy. Kuzmenko was made a healthy scratch once by Bruce Boudreau last season, on November 13 in Boston.

Kuzmenko has 14 points in 19 games this season but has only three goals. The 27-year-old tallied 39 goals and 74 points in 2022-23.

It’s been 10 games since Kuzmenko last scored a goal. He has just two shots on goal and no points in each of the last three games.

The Canucks are mired in their first slump of the season, having lost three of their last four games. Vancouver has games on back-to-back nights, in Seattle tonight and San Jose tomorrow, before returning home to play the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

[dh_you_might_als0_like]