Anze Kopitar has gotten off to another solid start to the season with nine points in 13 games, but once again, he has major question marks on his line that limit his production. Over the past few seasons, Kopitar knows he has Adrian Kempe on one side, but the other wing has been a revolving door.
Last season, the Kings had Alex Turcotte, Alex Laferriere, and even Quinton Byfield get meaningful minutes at the spot before they would trade for Andrei Kuzmenko at the trade deadline. He played some of his best hockey since his rookie season, scoring five goals and adding 12 assists in 22 regular-season games.
The Kings saw enough to bring him back on a one-year deal and seemingly felt that was good enough to address the spot on their top line. Unfortunately, the way he finished last season has not carried over to this season, and he has only one goal and three assists in 5v5 situations in the 17 games.
It has become such an issue that Kuzmenko was a healthy scratch for the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Kings find themselves right back in the same situation they faced last season.
Jim Hiller confirms Andrei Kuzmenko out, Jeff Mallot in tonight v Leafs.
— Dennis Bernstein (@DennisTFP) November 13, 2025
Trevor Moore in on PP2, Byfield back to PP1.
Los Angeles Kings owed Anze Kopitar more to find a player to fill that role on his line
For a player who spent over two decades with a franchise and will go down as one of the greatest to ever play for the Kings, he deserved more from the franchise to try and upgrade the position. The fact that they signed Kuzmenko to only a one-year deal showed they weren't completely sold on him.
The challenge is that general manager Ken Holland had a game plan going into free agency and wasn't going to deviate from that. They wanted to add depth and used almost all of their cap space to do that with players like Corey Perry, Joel Armia, Brian Dumoulin, and Cody Ceci.
Armia has been the player to replace Kuzmenko on that top line, but this is not his strength. He certainly is an upgrade from what the Kings had last season for their fourth line, but it feels like this is nothing more than another quick fix in hopes of finding an answer.
In the end, this might be nothing more than a wake-up call for Kuzmenko that he needs to play better. It could be a one-time thing, and the Kings give him another chance to prove he can fill that role.
Hopefully it works out that way because Anze Kopitar is deserving of ending his NHL career on a high note. That means having talented players on either side of him that make his job just a little bit easier, and right now that isn't the case on one side.