The Kings will be keeping their trade deadline acquisition away from the open market. The team announced they’ve signed winger Andrei Kuzmenko to a one-year extension worth $4.3MM.
The 29-year-old took the NHL by storm in his first season in 2022-23, notching 39 goals and 35 assists in 79 games with Vancouver. However, there was a bit of a red flag considering that his shooting percentage came in at 27.3%, well above the NHL average and a rate that wasn’t going to be sustainable. Unable to agree on a long-term commitment, the two sides eventually settled on a two-year, $10MM bridge deal to keep him in the fold with the Canucks.
Unfortunately for Kuzmenko and Vancouver, his second season didn’t go anywhere near as well as the first. After a quiet first half, he was included as salary ballast in the trade that sent Elias Lindholm to the Canucks. With a bigger opportunity in Calgary, Kuzmenko made the most of it, putting up 25 points in 29 games down the stretch with the Flames, providing some optimism that he could be a key contributor for them heading into 2024-25.
But things didn’t go that way this past season. Instead of picking up where he left off, Kuzmenko languished, notching just four goals and 11 assists in 37 games to start the year, resulting in him once again being included as salary ballast in a swap, this time to Philadelphia as part of the move that saw Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee go to Calgary. Kuzmenko did well in seven games with the Flyers before being flipped again, this time to Los Angeles at the trade deadline in a move aimed at giving the Kings some extra scoring.
Kuzmenko was indeed able to provide that, tallying five goals along with a dozen assists in 22 games down the stretch before averaging a point per game in six playoff outings. That performance was enough to land him the 19th spot in our Top 50 UFA ranking but instead, he won’t test the open market and will stay in a spot where things went well over the last few months. Perhaps with a full-season performance like he finished 2024-25 with, Kuzmenko will be in better shape to command a longer-term pact on the open market next summer.
With the signing, the Kings are down to a little under $20MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. As things stand, GM Ken Holland will be set to try to make a splash either in free agency or the trade market although that number could still come down if he’s able to work out an agreement with pending UFA blueliner Vladislav Gavrikov in the coming hours.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images.
OMG my Kings actually did something. I thought they were all on vacation
Hey, cut them some slack. They traded Spence away for the first offer they received!
theyre always on vacation when the playoffs start😂 reserving tee times for the 1st round exit
lol they book those usually around Christmas. Trust me I have had season tickets for19 years
How many teams over a 19 year period have been to the playoffs most of those years and won two cups?
lol you were not there in 2009 and 2010 when I wore a paper bag over my head with fire everybody written in sharpie on it.
I was there during the dark ages of 2002-2009. Tickets were cheap, Jeremy Roenick was pouting, and the Kings kept getting injured and finally went full rebuild. Thankfully Terry Murray got the defense fixed and Jonathan Quick ended the carousel of goaltending in 2009-10.
I like this move a lot. Cheap deal, break out potential. He loves being a King, and that makes me want him back too.
Great sign power play real strong
Not a bad deal for LA in getting Andrei Kuzmenko on low end $4.3M for 1 year. It’s below his market value actually so it’s a bit of a steal.
Does it make up for essentially giving Spence away for little?