After starting out this past season with the Calgary Flames and then the Philadelphia Flyers, the Los Angeles Kings and former general manager Rob Blake acquired forward Andrei Kuzmenko around the trade deadline.
Blake and the Kings traded a future (2027) third-round draft pick to the Flyers in return for Kuzmenko and a 2029 seventh-round draft pick. While expectations weren't all that high for Kuzmenko with the Kings after he was traded by Philly this past trade deadline, he definitely surpassed assumptions made about his role with the team this past season.
Kuzmenko filled some pretty notable roles with the top-nine forward group for the Kings down the stretch last regular season. Not only was a bigger bodied power forward who could play top-six forward line minutes for the Kings, but he could also generate and convert on high-danger and net front scoring chances for LA.
Andrei Kuzmenko 2024-25 Los Angeles Kings player season recap
2024-25 season stats: 66 games played, 11 goals, 26 assists, 37 points, -6
2024-25 advanced stats: 13.4 shooting %, 9.1 5-on-5 shooting %, 2.2 points/60, 3.0 point shares, 1.1 WAR
2024-25 possession metrics (with Kings): 52.3 CF%, 57.0 SCF%, 105.6 PDO, 61.8 HDCF%
The Kings' offense and power play improved in the final stretch run of this past regular season with Kuzmenko in the mix. In the season's final 22 games, with Kuzmenko, the Kings averaged over 3.2 goals scored per game. That was a 0.25 goals per game improvement over the season's first 60 games in 2024-25.
With the Kings, Kuzmenko scored five goals and 17 points in 22 games after coming over from the Flyers this past season in the West.
The power play unit also improved by a mark of over two percentage points in terms of conversion rate in the final quarter of the regular season with Kuzmenko in the fold. He was a nice fit on the Kings' top line for most of his time in LA this past season, playing alongside Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe.
Rink Royalty 2024-25 season grade for Andrei Kuzmenko: A-
Andrei Kuzmenko 2025-26 Los Angeles Kings season preview
New general manager Ken Holland and the Kings have brought back Kuzmenko on the projected roster for this upcoming season in LA on a one-year deal, worth around $4.3 million in average annual value. In theory, Kuzmenko should have a solid full season with the Kings this campaign for 2025-26 after getting to spend a full offseason with the organization this summer.
If Kuzmenko can put the puck in the net and produce points at a similar, or even higher level than what he did last season after the trade deadline with the Kings, he should be due to receive a solid contract extension in LA going into next summer in the 2026 offseason.