Morning Notes: Kuzmenko, Pinto, Couture

The Vancouver Canucks could be looking to move high-scoring winger Andrei Kuzmenko, according to The Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta. Pagnotta shares that the team has discussed trading him but that, “nothing is close”, citing his $5.5MM cap hit and modified-no-trade-clause as pieces that make a trade challenging.

Kuzmenko is off to a slower start to the season after scoring an electric 39 goals and 74 points in 81 games last season. It was Kuzmenko’s first year in the NHL, with Vancouver signing him out of the KHL, where he had previously played 315 career games and scored 200 points. The 27-year-old winger is now sporting just five goals and 16 points through 26 games this season, on pace for just 50 points in 82 games. Pagnotta shares that Vancouver could be looking for a talent-for-talent swap, attempting to bring in a new face to replace Kuzmenko’s role in the top-six. The left-winger has averaged roughly 16 minutes of ice time through his 107 career NHL games so far.

Other notes from around the league:

• Shane Pinto is expected to resume training with the Ottawa Senators’ skills coaches soon, after doing much of his training at various colleges while serving his 41-game suspension. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch shared expects the forward to sign his qualifying offer, which would give Pinto a cap hit of $874K. Pinto is eligible to resume playing for either the Ottawa Senators or Belleville Senators on January 21st.
• Logan Couture spoke with media for the first time in two months on Tuesday, shedding light on the lower-body injury that’s so far held him out of the season. Couture, 34, candidly shared that he had feared the injury could end his career, but that those fears are behind him after he began rehabbing the injury. He is now expecting to return soon, but the Sharks captain didn’t have a timeline yet, calling himself, “truly week-to-week”. Couture has spent his entire career with the San Jose Sharks, totaling 700 points in 927 games with the club.