What has changed for Kuzmenko with the Canucks this season?
Vancouver Canucks forward Andrei Kuzmenko has had a rough time this season.
The Russian forward has just four goals and 11 assists in 25 games. His drop in production has resulted in a demotion down the lineup and even a few games spent in the press box as a healthy scratch.
He’s found his name in the rumour mill as of late. The Canucks are apparently getting calls and will need to decide what to do with the player. The first step in that process is understanding what type of player Kuzmenko really is.
It was widely understood that the winger would struggle to repeat last season’s 39-goal performance but not many predicted the drop-off to be this severe. Are his struggles so far this season temporary or indicative of his true capabilities?
Kuzmenko’s power play struggles
One area where Kuzmenko has struggled is on the power play. He scored 14 goals with the man advantage last season but has just one so far this year.
Part of the reason for that is his deployment. Last year, the Canucks used a much more static power play setup that had Kuzmenko sitting in front of the net. As a result, he got a ton of tap-in and deflection opportunities like the one below.
KUZY ON THE DOORSTEP TIES IT UP! pic.twitter.com/sJsWR73Pnx
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) March 29, 2023
This year, head coach Rick Tocchet has emphasized movement on the power play and therefore Kuzmenko has not had the same number of point-blank chances.
“When they’re moving, there’s some pretty damn good goals out there, so I think that’s the key against some of the PK schemes,”  Tocchet told reporters at training camp. “Sometimes Miller will be in the middle, or the front, and Petey down low… I’m a big movement guy, filling lanes. Obviously, you want to set up certain people for the right shots, but movement was actually pretty half decent there.”
So far this season, Kuzmenko has actually averaged a similar number of shots on the power play to what he did last year. However, those shots are less dangerous and he is converting far fewer of them. Despite his struggles, the Canucks are scoring at a higher rate with him on the power play this year compared to last.
| Kuzmenko power play stat | 2022-23 NHL season | 2023-24 NHL season |
| Shots per 60-minutes | 9.36 | 8.44 |
| Shooting percentage | 36.84% | 7.14% |
| Goals per 60-minutes | 3.45 | 0.60 |
| On-ice goals for per 60 minutes | 7.89 | 10.25 |
These numbers give additional context to Kuzmenko’s drop in scoring. He’s no longer the beneficiary of a juicy role in the team’s scheme, instead, he now finds himself all over the ice and has seen a drop off in his personal numbers as a result, although it’s benefited the team.
This doesn’t fully explain nor excuse the winger’s scoring drought, all it does is add some more context to what might be happening. The Canucks power play has been red-hot and currently sits in the top five across the NHL, meaning that Kuzmenko’s personal struggles when five-on-four are not nearly as big a worry.
Kuzmenko’s five-on-five play
The power play is not the only area where Kuzmenko’s scoring touch has disappeared. He also has just three five-on-five goals so far this season.
His five-on-five shooting percentage has predictably dipped from 22.58% to 15%, a very normal number. The bigger issue is with his volume. He’s getting nearly two minutes fewer of five-on-five ice time per game and taking fewer shots in the time that he is on the ice. His individual shots per 60 minutes at five-on-five have dropped from 5.45 to 4.51.
To earn more ice time, Kuzmenko needs to earn the coach’s trust. He does not have that right now because of his play away from the puck, something that the head coach made very clear earlier this year.
“He should be the first guy on the forecheck and for whatever reason he always ends up behind everybody. You can’t play that way — the odd time you make the wrong read, I get it — because it makes the other guys on your line play slower,” Tocchet said in early December when discussing Kuzmenko’s demotion down the lineup. “If you’re F3 and he’s going behind F1, now F3 is going, ‘What do I do now?’ If he is the guy first on the puck, F3 knows exactly where the puck is going and then he can be aggressive.”
Kuzmenko still has an overall positive impact on the game. The Canucks control a majority of the real and expected goals when he’s on the ice at five-on-five. However, for him to reach his full potential, he needs to work on the small details that Tocchet — and all NHL head coaches — value so dearly.