The Los Angeles Kings only made one move at the NHL Trade Deadline and at the time it didn't seem like it would be that impactful. They would trade with the Philadelphia Flyers for forward Andrei Kuzmenko a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and in return send the Flyers a 2027 third-round pick.
While he didn't have any points in his first seven games, he seemed to fit seamlessly into this offense and made an impact on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe. The Kings spent most of the season looking for the right fit at left wing and Kuzmenko was that answer.
Recently, the points have come as he has five goals and six assists in the last 10 games, including two power play assists. According to MoneyPuck, over the past 10 games Kuzmenko leads the Kings in Points Per 60 Minutes with 3.98, almost a full point ahead of Adrian Kempe (3.05) and Anze Kopitar (3.0).
Los Angeles Kings have seen enough to re-sign Andrei Kuzmenko
It has been a great start for Andrei Kuzmenko and it has put the Kings in somewhat of a tough spot. He is currently in the final year of his deal and the Kings will need to decide if they want to offer him a new deal.
While the sample size isn't that large, the impact is undeniable and the Kings offense collectively has been better with Kuzmenko. It has brought more balance to the lines as Alex Turcotte moved down to the fourth line which was dramatically better prior to Turcotte's injury.
There is no question that there is some risk signing a player to a multi-year deal based on 17 games but these are 17 games within your system. That certainly needs to carry a little more weight and at this point of the season there isn't many more games left to dramatically shift the opinion one way or the other.
Recently, Daily Faceoff put together their Top 50 Free Agents for the upcoming offseason and Kuzmenko was part of that group. They used AFP Projections for what the next contract might look like and Kuzmenko's next contract was projected for a 2 x $4.5. This feels more than reasonable and if that is the contract the Kings can agree to, they don't need to wait much longer to get that done.