Andrey Kuzmenko was moved around Canada

Russian forward of the NHL club Vancouver Canucks Andrei Kuzmenko became a participant in a very notable deal. Vancouver, which leads the regular season, traded Kuzmenko for Swedish Calgary Flames forward Elias Lindholm. This decision a year ago would have looked strange, given how bright Kuzmenko spent last season, his debut in the league. However, this year it has experienced an unexpected decline.

On the trade between the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames became known ahead of the opening of All-Star Weekend in Toronto, a multi-day major event on the NHL calendar that centers on the All-Star Game itself. And Elias Lindholm, a very famous Swedish forward, was supposed to be Calgary’s only representative in it. However, he will now actually represent the Vancouver club, which has already delegated to the event a gigantic team of five hockey players by the standards of the latter – goalkeeper Thatcher Demko, defenseman Quinn Hughes and forwards Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and JT Miller.

To get Lindholm, Vancouver had to sacrifice significant compensation. Its main element was Russian forward Andrei Kuzmenko.

And in addition to him, Calgary got two young defensemen who have not yet played in the NHL, Hunter Brzustevich and Yoni Jurmo, plus the right to two Vancouverites’ picks in the next draft, including in the first round.

In fact, a year ago this deal would have looked strange. The fact is that last season Andrei Kuzmenko seemed like a brilliant find for Vancouver. That championship was the debut for the forward in the NHL, who went to North America from SKA St. Petersburg already as a mature 26-year-old hockey player. However, almost immediately he not only gained a foothold in Vancouver’s core, but turned into one of its key elements. Kuzmenko’s statistics at the end of the regular championship corresponded to the level of an elite forward – 39 goals scored, 74 points.

Moreover, it seemed that the leaders of Vancouver were firmly counting on him in the future. In any case, this was indicated by the contract he signed in the summer – two years, totaling $11 million. $5.5 million per year is a large sum for a player with minimal experience in the NHL.

But in the next season everything unexpectedly changed. Vancouver, which did not make it to the playoffs in the spring of 2023, suddenly improved. And so dramatically that the size of his delegation to the All-Star Game does not surprise anyone. “Vancouver” is the leader in the Western Conference, and in the summary table of the regular championship shares the top line with the “Boston Bruins”.

At the same time, the exact opposite story happened to Andrei Kuzmenko. His numbers have crept down and currently look modest – 8 goals and 13 assists in 43 matches played.

And Rick Tocquette, who took over as head coach of Vancouver at the height of its recent crisis, was clearly disappointed in Kuzmenko. In some matches, he transferred him from the leading links to the “lower” ones, and in some, he completely left him out of the lineup, despite the fact that the hockey player’s health was fine.

Taking this context into account, the deal seems quite logical. “Calgary,” which is going through a difficult period and, playing in the same Pacific Division as “Vancouver,” is 22 points behind it, being already quite far from the “playoff zone,” thanks to her, it acquired assets for personnel restructuring. “Vancouver” is strengthening in the hunt for the Stanley Cup.

Elias Lindholm, who has been playing in the NHL for ten years, is considered an extremely consistent center forward. And his versatility adds value: the Swede always scores quite a lot of points (in this championship he has 32 in 49 games), but is also good in defense. For example, he constantly enters the court when his team is in the minority. And minority is on the short list of problems in today’s Vancouver. In terms of efficiency when playing with a numerical disadvantage, it ranks only 15th in the league, while Calgary is fourth.

Interestingly, this is the second trade of the season between two Canadian clubs. The first took place in November, and a Russian player was also involved. True, he proceeded in the opposite direction. Calgary traded defenseman Nikita Zadorov to Vancouver for two draft picks. For Zadorov, the deal appeared to be useful. In a club that seriously expects to compete for the Stanley Cup, he does not fall out of the core.

Alexey Dospehov