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Andrei Kuzmenko

Snapshots: Coyotes, Canucks, Kuzmenko, Pillar

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The Coyotes are set to get their top defenseman back in the lineup as Jakob Chychrun has cleared COVID protocol, relays Jose M. Romero of the Arizona Republic.  Chychrun had been out with an upper-body injury sustained back in December and was close to returning before testing positive.  Head coach Andre Tourigny, defensemen Anton Stralman and Kyle Capobianco, and goalie Scott Wedgewood all also cleared protocols and are with Arizona on their road trip.  However, they will be without winger Antoine Roussel who entered COVID protocol today and will miss at least the next five days.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • While the attendance restrictions in Vancouver have been extended through the middle of February, the Canucks will not be having any games on their upcoming three-game homestand rescheduled, mentions Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma (Twitter link). Vancouver already has seven games that need to be rescheduled with at least some of those changes expected to be announced very soon.
  • Free agent winger Andrei Kuzmenko won’t be deciding on which NHL team he’ll sign with anytime soon. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports in the latest Insider Trading segment that the 25-year-old will wait until the end of his season in Russia before choosing where to sign with.  Kuzmenko is on Russia’s training camp list for the upcoming Olympics and as the second-leading scorer in the KHL, it’s quite likely that he’ll make it.  Ottawa is among the teams known to be interested although Dreger relays that almost every team has at least reached out to his agent (Gold Star’s Dan Milstein) to inquire about Kuzmenko.
  • Wild prospect Josh Pillar was traded from Kamloops to Saskatoon at the WHL trade deadline on Monday. The 2021 fourth-round pick has averaged just over a point per game for the second straight season with 11 goals and 20 assists in 29 games.  However, the two picks the Blazers are receiving are conditional as the winger is currently dealing with a private medical situation and the move was made to allow Pillar to recover closer to home.

Russia Announces Olympic Training Camp Roster

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The 2022 Winter Olympics are right around the corner, with the men’s hockey tournament kicking off on February 10. There will be a handful of pre-tournament games in the days before that, but for the Russian national team, training camp starts even sooner. The roster for camp in Novogorsk was announced today and it includes many names that will be familiar to NHL fans.

The full training camp roster:

G Yaroslav Askarov
G Alexander Samonov
G Timur Bilyalov
G Ivan Fedotov
G Dmitry Shugaev

D Dmitry Vishnevsky
D Alexander Nikishin
D Slava Voynov
D Alexander Yelesin
D Artyom Minulin
D Yegor Yakovlev
D Shakir Mukhamadullin
D Nikita Nesterov
D Daniil Pylenkov
D Sergei Telegin
D Semyon Chistyakov
D Damir Sharipzyanov

F Sergei Andronov
F Mikhail Grigorenko
F Pavel Karnaukhov
F Sergei Plotnikov
F Anton Slepyshev
F Artem Anisimov
F Artur Kayumov
F Anton Burdasov
F Nikita Gusev
F Andrei Kuzmenko
F Kirill Marchenko
F Artyom Galimov
F Dmitry Voronkov
F Stanislav Galiev
F Vadim Shipachyov
F Arseniy Gritsyuk
F Kirill Semyonov
F Alexander Kadeikin
F Vladimir Tkachyov
F Andrei Chibisov

While there is a good core of veterans that have seen international play before, the group also includes many prospects and young players that the North American hockey world may not be familiar with. New Jersey Devils fans especially will be keeping a close tab on the Russian team, and not only because of 2020 first-round pick Mukhamadullin. Gritsyuk, a fifth-round pick of the Devils in 2019, has been lighting up the KHL this season with 16 goals and 28 points through 39 games. That’s his first full season at the highest level in Russia, making the undersized forward someone to keep an eye on when his KHL contract expires in 2023.

There’s plenty of other young talents here too, with one being another Tampa Bay Lightning late-round find. Pylenkov was selected 196th overall in 2021 as an averaged draft pick and is in his third full season in the KHL. While the 21-year-old might not come over right away (though his KHL contract does expire at the end of this season), the Lightning will hold his NHL rights indefinitely after using the seventh-round pick.

Atlantic Notes: Kuzmenko, Boucher, Bruins, Allen

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Free agent winger Andrei Kuzmenko appears to have narrowed his list of teams he’s considering signing with for next season and the Senators are on that list, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link).  Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion indicated recently they were interested in the 25-year-old who sits second in KHL scoring this season with 20 goals and 33 assists in 45 games.  Kuzmenko is expected to wait until after the season to sign, ensuring he’ll be capped at a one-year, entry-level pact while allowing him to be eligible for unrestricted free agency in the 2023 offseason.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • Still with Ottawa, Dorion mentioned in an appearance on 630 CHED (audio link) that winger Tyler Boucher won’t be playing right away with OHL Ottawa. The Senators recently signed the 2021 first-round pick, ending his college eligibility but he is dealing with a lingering injury that will take a week or two to recover.
  • The Bruins announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Derek Forbort has cleared COVID protocol, missing only the minimum five days. His return will be a welcome one with John Moore being injured against Montreal on Wednesday and Matt Grzelcyk recently entering COVID protocol himself.  Meanwhile, forward Trent Frederic isn’t ready to return yet from his upper-body injury while winger Nick Foligno has resumed skating as he works his way back from his lower-body issue.
  • The Canadiens announced that goaltender Jake Allen has returned to Montreal to undergo further evaluation on an upper-body injury sustained on Wednesday in Boston. Allen was placed on injured reserve yesterday and will miss at least a week while the team won’t return back home until January 27th when their 10-game road trip (due to scheduling changes) comes to an end.

Senators Notes: White, Forsberg, Kuzmenko

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During general manager Pierre Dorion’s interview with TSN 1200 today, he gave a variety of updates related to the short- and long-term future of the team. One of those updates surrounded forward Colin White, who hasn’t played this season due to a shoulder injury suffered during the preseason. Dorion says that White still isn’t close to returning, and hopes for an early-March season debut as the best scenario. That jives with White’s original five-month timeline on the injury, but many hoped for an earlier return. The 24-year-old forward is under contract for three seasons following this one with a $4.75MM cap hit.

More from the Senators on this Thursday morning:

Andrei Kuzmenko Drawing NHL Interest

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Every year there is a player or two from the KHL that piques the interest of teams in North America. They’re often undrafted talents from smaller Russian cities that may have been overlooked for years by NHL scouts. This year’s edition is Andrei Kuzmenko, who Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports is drawing “a lot of interest.”

Kuzmenko, born in Yakutsk–a city more than 3,000 miles from Moscow–and set to turn 26 in February, is in his fifth full season in the KHL and has 29 points in 26 games for SKA St. Petersburg. In all, the right-shot left-winger has 176 points in 296 KHL regular season games, but those numbers have steadily increased in recent years. While he’s still far behind the league-leading Vadim Shipachyov (another undrafted talent that was once the big name KHL free agent), those 29 points put Kuzmenko in a tie for sixth in KHL scoring.

This isn’t the first time Kuzmenko’s name has come up in relation to the NHL though, teams have been watching him for some time. Back in 2018, his North American agent Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey told Championat that 24 teams had expressed interest in his client. In the same interview, he spoke about the interest in Ilya Mikheyev and Artem Zub, who subsequently came over and found success. Those NHL scouts will be reminded of him often too, given he has spent time on the same line as potential 2023 first-overall pick Matvei Michkov.

Hugely skilled, there will be no shortage of hype for Kuzmenko should he decide to try his hand in North America next season. Whether he finds success is still to be determined, but there are certainly strong footsteps for him to follow. One interesting thing to consider is whether this hot start will get him onto the Russian Olympic roster, where he could potentially showcase himself against NHL talent.

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