VOORHEES, N.J. — At some point, the Philadelphia Flyers are going to have to make a decision on what do to with recently acquired forward Andrei Kuzmenko.
Whether that decision comes sooner or later could be up to him.
The NHL trade deadline is on March 7, and Kuzmenko is one of just two Flyers who is a pending unrestricted free agent (defenseman Erik Johnson is the other). It’s conceivable that the forward, who scored 39 goals just two seasons ago with the Vancouver Canucks, could trigger a phone call or two to general manager Daniel Briere, who, for the second straight season, has a receptive ear when it comes to those sorts of things.
But the 29-year-old Kuzmenko, in the final season of a two-year, $11 million deal that also has a modified 12-team no-trade clause, is putting that career uncertainty in the back of his mind.
“So (few) games left, it’s a very short schedule for me to (a) new team. It’s not easy,” Kuzmenko told The Athletic after a practice on Monday. “If I think about what is (the) future, where I play — it’s not good for me.”
So, the present it is. And in that regard, Kuzmenko is off to a solid start since he was brought in as part of the Morgan Frost-Joel Farabee trade with Calgary on Jan. 30.
After registering an assist on his first shift and creating offense throughout the Flyers’ final game before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off on Feb. 8 against the Pittsburgh Penguins (a 3-2 Flyers win), Kuzmenko tallied a late second-period power-play goal on Saturday when he shoveled home a feed from Travis Konecny. It was a vital insurance marker, putting the Flyers up by two at the intermission in their eventual 6-3 win over the Oilers.
His role on the power play will continue, too. Kuzmenko remains in the bumper position on the first unit, along with Konecny, Rasmus Ristolainen, Scott Laughton and Matvei Michkov. The hope, of course, is that Kuzmenko can help spark what has been a brutal aspect of the Flyers’ game for several seasons now. Since the Tortorella-Rocky Thompson regime took over in 2022-23, the Flyers have the league’s worst power play at 14.4 percent.
“We need his offense,” Tortorella said. “I watched him work in the bumper on the power play today in practice. You can see how he sees the ice. … He’s in the right spots when he should be. We need that part of it from him.”
Kuzmenko, who has 26 power-play goals in 192 career games, said he hasn’t played that position on the man advantage very often in his professional career, “but that’s OK. For me it doesn’t matter, because I’m a forward. I understand how to play on the wall, the net, the middle. It doesn’t matter. … I like it. (It takes) improvisation, not a simple decision. I like it.”
Not a bad second period! Let’s build on it as we start the third.
📺: @NBCSPhilly
📻: @975TheFanatic#EDMvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/FhsnqfoWjY— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 22, 2025
There’s something else Tortorella wants to see from Kuzmenko, too: shoot the puck. In 2022-23, Kuzmenko fired 143 shots on goal — or 5.45 per 60 minutes. In 37 games with the Flames this season before the trade, though, Kuzmenko managed just 39 shots on goal, or, 3.49 per 60 and barely more than one per game.
Kuzmenko, who has five goals in 39 total games this season with the Flames and Flyers, agreed with that suggestion. After all, he has a career 21.4 shooting percentage, suggesting he can be deadly when he has an open look.
“If I have a chance, I need to shoot, right?” Kuzmenko said. “With 24 games left, I need to show how I can shoot.”
There was rampant speculation after the trade that Kuzmenko might have difficulty under Tortorella, who often has a short leash when it comes to defensive ineptitude or a perceived lack of effort — and Kuzmenko has been accused of both. But the coach mentioned after Saturday’s game that when Kuzmenko was in the wrong position early in the game against the Oilers, it was pointed out to him on the bench and he quickly adjusted.
Tortorella is also aware of another aspect of Kuzmenko’s reputation, that he starts quickly with a new club but then just as quickly declines. After all, Kuzmenko went from 74 points in his first season with Vancouver to just 46 the next, and the Flames were clearly comfortable letting him go in what was his second season there, too.
“We certainly know about it, right?” Tortorella said of Kuzmenko’s career path. “It’s not going to be a discussion I have with him. He has a chance here to come to a team that’s looking for more offense. A chance to maybe come up with a pretty major role within the team if he handles himself the right way, and maybe grow his career. It’s out there — there’s a number of teams he’s gone through now.
“I just want him to meet us halfway in his effort, and his accountability toward the other side of the puck. He’ll make mistakes. I just want him trying as hard as he can.”
The acquisition could be a good litmus test for what the Flyers believe is a drastically improved culture, too. Certainly, a lack of effort or dedication won’t be tolerated. If there’s a strong enough dressing room, those sorts of potential issues should get worked out before Tortorella has a chance to blow his top.
“I think our room, in how we do it and how people are held accountable … is going to help that,” Tortorella said.
Captain Sean Couturier said: “There’s always an adjustment period. (We) try to make it as easy as possible for them, and then once they’re here, I think the coaching staff, management, they teach him the way we want to play, and it goes from there.”
Where it goes, no one can predict. Because if Kuzmenko sticks with the Flyers past the trade deadline, the discussion will quickly turn to whether the organization and the player see this as more of a longer-term fit.
“I’ll act accordingly as we go through this, and the organization will act accordingly as we watch this,” Tortorella said. “It’s a bit of an audition of, what are you, can you help us, (and) do you want to help us? … And, we’ll make a decision from there.”
(Photo of Andrei Kuzmenko: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
