Kings acquire forward Andrei Kuzmenko (50% Retained) + 2025 7th from PHI in exchange 2027 3rd

The LA Kings have acquired forward Andrei Kuzmenko and a 2025 seventh-round draft pick from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a 2027 third-round draft pick.

Kuzmenko is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, with a salary-cap hit of $5,500,000, though Philadelphia is retaining 50 percent of Kuzmenko’s salary on the transaction, which brings his full-season cost down to $2,750,000. Kuzmenko will count less towards the cap at this point in the season. The draft pick exchange sees the Kings lose their third-round pick in a couple seasons but add a late pick here in 2025.

Instant Analysis
Interesting acquisition for the Kings here. Kuzmenko has had some staggeringly good stretches of production in the NHL. He’s also had some seasons that have led to trades away from organizations he’s had those good seasons with.

After coming over from the KHL to the NHL in the 2022-23 season, Kuzmenko exploded onto the scene as he scored 39 goals and collected 74 points for the Vancouver Canucks. Those 39 goals would be second to only Adrian Kempe’s 41 goals that season for the Kings over the past 10 years. His numbers dipped in his second season in Vancouver and he was a piece included in the Elias Lindholm trade, as he went the other way to Calgary. He then finished the end of that season with 14 goals and 25 points in 29 games played. With Calgary in Year 2, Kuzmenko was around a half point per game but now has five points (3-2-5) from seven games played in Philadelphia after a midseason trade.

If there’s a theme here, perhaps it’s instant impact. The Kings are acquiring Kuzmenko as a pending unrestricted free agent and twice now, over longer stretches than Philadelphia, he’s joined a team and produced instantly. Considering the market right now, both around rental players and players with term, giving up a third-round pick for a player who scored 39 goals two seasons ago feels like a pretty decent gamble for the Kings here. Kuzmenko hasn’t had a massive season but that stretch run with 25 points in 29 games played happened just last spring with the Flames. The Kings have scored fewer goals than all but one playoff team so far this season and adding a guy with that kind of upside should only help in that department.

The other element here is that Kuzmenko seems to check a couple of boxes for the Kings. He’s a right-shot forward and if you look at the breakdown of the Kings up front at this moment, eight of their top-nine forwards are left-shot players, with forward Alex Laferriere the lone outlier. Additionally, during his 39-goal season, Kuzmenko scored 14 those goals on the power play. The Kings rank 30th in the NHL on the power play this season and have only scored 21 power-play goals as a team this season. We’ve heard so much about the desire to add a right-shot forward to this group who can help on the power play. This is a move that should help in that department, at least on paper.

So, overall, this is a low-risk move with some good upside for the Kings. In a market that has seen huge prices paid, and even higher ones speculated for offensive players specifically, the Kings add a forward for a mid-round draft pick. In that regard, I think the juice is worth the squeeze here. This also should not prohibit the Kings from adding again, if they so choose. They’ve not got a player they believe should be a Top-9 forward for the rest of the season and into the playoffs, which in theory should help elsewhere as well, as it would bump another player onto the fourth line, which in theory makes both the Top-9 and the fourth-line better.

Perhaps there’s more to come, Insiders. Let’s see. Still more than two hours to go until the deadline.

From the team’s official release –

Kuzmenko, 29, joins the Kings after skating in 44 combined games this season with the Flyers and Calgary Flames, registering six goals and 20 points (6-14=20) with four power-play goals and three game-winning goals.

The 5-11, 194-pound forward joins the Kings having accumulated 67 goals and 140 points (67-73=140) points in 197 career regular-season NHL games over parts of three seasons with Philadelphia, Calgary and the Vancouver Canucks. Kuzmenko’s best NHL season came during his rookie season (2022-23) with Vancouver where he established career-bests in games played (81), goals (39), assists (35) and points (74). Of his 67 career goals, 26 have come on the power-play and 11 have been game-winning tallies.

A native of Yakutsk, Russia, Kuzmenko has skated in 315 regular-season games over eight seasons between CSKA Moskva and SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) while recording 85 goals and 200 points (85-115=200). He has also appeared in 61 KHL playoff games, tallying 29 points (18-11=29). During the 2021-22 campaign, Kuzmenko was named the KHL Forward of the Month in December en route to a KHL First All-Star Team selection at the end of the campaign.

Internationally, Kuzmenko has represented Russia in two International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournaments, including the 2015 IIHF Men’s World Junior Championship where he won silver in Toronto, and the 2021 Men’s World Championship.