Russian Forward Has Signed New Contract

Andrei Kuzmenko Signed to New Deal by Los Angeles Kings

Kuzmenko has played for the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings across his three-year NHL career. The 29-year-old netted 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points in 66 games with between the Flames, Flyers and Kings. He averaged 15 minutes and 38 seconds of ice time this season across the three teams. Kuzmenko had a Corsi for of 60.5 and a relative Corsi of 9.9.

The Yakutsk, Russia native has 72 goals and 85 assists for 157 points in 219 career games. Vancouver signed Kuzmenko to a one-year, entry-level deal in June 2022. The veteran forward played in the KHL for both CSKA Moscow and SKA St Petersburg before making the jump over to North American.

Kuzmenko has also represented his native Russia at the international level. He was part of the silver-medal winning squad at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships. The forward was also a member of the fifth-place team at the 2021 IIHF World Championships.

What It Means

Kuzmenko took the league by storm with a 39-goal season during his first season with the Canucks. However, he hit the dreaded sophomore slump and was scratched a number of times. The Russian had been traded a couple of times while trying to make his place in the lineup.

However, the trade to the Kings seemingly breathed life into his career. He registered five goals and 12 assists in 22 regular season games with Los Angeles. Kuzmenko also racked up three goals and three assists for six points in six games in the post-season. That strong play has seemingly netted him a new contract.

He’ll look to reset his value and try to score an even bigger contract in the next round of free agency.