Calgary Flames forward Andrei Kuzmenko was made a late scratch for Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche after sustaining an upper-body injury.
Kuzmenko skated with Jonathan Huberdeau and Yegor Sharangovich in line rushes during warm-ups prior to the game at Scotiabank Saddledome but was ultimately held out of the lineup in favor of defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk.
As a result, the Flames went with 11 forwards and seven defenders for the game against the playoff-bound Avs, who have won three in a row and currently sit in third place in the Central Division with a 40-20-5 record and 85 points in 65 games.
The Flames also went without Jacob Markstrom (lower-body injury) and Andrew Mangiapane (illness) for Tuesday’s game. They’ve lost back-to-back games and occupy sixth place in the Pacific Division through 64 games with a 31-28-5 record and 67 points.
Kuzmenko is now in his second month as a Flame after being acquired from the Vancouver Canucks in a major trade at the end of January.
On January 31, the Flames received Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, the Canucks’ own 2024 1st, and a conditional 2024 4th from Vancouver in exchange for pending UFA forward Elias Lindholm.
Kuzmenko was widely seen as a cap dump for a Flames team set to enter a retooling stage. The 28-year-old winger has one year remaining on his contract after this one at a $5.5 million cap hit.
Through 13 games with the Flames since the trade, Kuzmenko has five goals and eight points. Conversely, Lindholm has just four goals and seven points in 17 games with the Canucks.
Vancouver originally signed Kuzmenko as an undrafted free agent from the KHL club SKA St. Petersburg back in 2022. The Yakutsk, Russia product collected 39 goals and 74 points in 81 games with the Canucks in 2022-23 and likely would’ve won the Calder Trophy had he not been too old to qualify as a rookie under NHL rules.
Through 56 games split between the Canucks and Flames this season, Kuzmenko has 13 goals, 29 points, and a minus-6 rating. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2025.
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