Escape from the coach: will an exchange from Vancouver to Calgary benefit Kuzmenko?

Where did Kuzmenko go?

At the beginning of February, one of the main stories of the current season in the NHL ended. Over the past months, many have wondered what Andrei Kuzmenko would choose: to stay in Vancouver and try to adapt to the requirements of Rick Tocchet or try his hand at another team. And the best debutant in the league of the last championship settled on the second option. As a result of the exchange, the Russian, in the company of defenders Hunter Brzustevich and Joni Jurmo, went to Calgary, and center Elias Lindholm went in the opposite direction. Additionally, the Flames received two 2024 draft picks. One of them is in the first round, the other is in the third or fourth. According to Sportsnet's Pat Steinberg, it will depend on whether the Orcas reach the Western Conference finals in the Stanley Cup.

But in this case something else is interesting. The contract Kuzmenko signed a year ago contained a clause prohibiting him from moving to 12 teams in the league, among which was Calgary. And the striker could reject management’s offer and remain as part of one of the contenders for the Stanley Cup. But he refused this option and moved to the 12th team in the Western Conference. Which may well indicate both his extreme dissatisfaction with the current situation in the Canucks and his intention to quickly escape from Tocquette, who began to retrain him, and his desire to get playing time again.

Where could Kuzmenko end up?

But if Calgary was among the clubs that were not initially considered by the Russian as a potential place of work, then didn’t he have other options for continuing his career? If you believe the media, other groups also showed interest in him. So, a few hours before the exchange, they talked about Chicago’s intention to get a talented forward, but there was clearly nothing to offer in return. After all, the Blackhawks don’t have a stellar roster of players right now. A worthy replacement for the position could only be Taylor Hall, but now he is in the hospital and has a two-year contract worth $6 million per year. And as far as we know, Vancouver’s plans included unloading the payroll.

For the same reason, Kuzmenko’s potential move to Washington looked unlikely. Of course, the capital could use such a brightly attacking hockey player, but who should they give in return? According to insider Elliott Friedman, the conversation could have been about Anthony Mantha, but that would hardly have suited the Canucks. Even though the Canadian earns $5.7 million and becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer, he can hardly be considered a serious assistant in the fight for trophies. He was never one of the scoring forwards, and in the Capitals he completely wilted, scoring a total of 81 points in 161 meetings.

Compared to them, Lindholm seems a much more acceptable option. This season he did not shine and limited himself to only nine goals and 23 assists in 49 matches, and last year he did not reach the grandmaster mark of one point per game. But unlike Mantha and Hall, he is healthy and capable of contributing on both ends of the floor. And he proved this perfectly during the 2021/22 championship, which he completed with 82 (42 + 40) points and a utility score of “+61.” Over the past five years, only his ex-teammate Johnny Gaudreau (“+64”) showed more impressive numbers.

Did Kuzmenko benefit from this exchange?

It is extremely difficult to answer this question unequivocally, because everything depends on what goals the Russian is pursuing. If it is more important for him to win the Stanley Cup, then it was much more correct to stay in Vancouver: to continue to suffer under the leadership of Tocchet and hope that either he will one day believe in him and transfer him to the top ranks, or the chance will present itself due to an injury to one of his partners. But by this moment one could completely lose faith in oneself. And according to the club’s president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, this happened back in mid-January. At that time, Kuzmenko’s goalless streak had already stretched to nine matches, and subsequently reached 13 games.

On paper, there should be much more chances to prove yourself in a less strong team. Until recently, “Calgary” had a clear shortage of wing forwards and an overabundance of central forwards, which is why either Lindholm or Jonathan Huberdeau were forced to act in positions not native to them. At the same time, Blake Coleman, Connor Zary and Yegor Sharangovich have long been playing on the flanks, although they are nominally accustomed to being positioned in the middle. And for one of them, the Swede’s departure may well mean a return to his home position.

In fact, Kuzmenko has only one serious competitor, if we take into account exclusively “natural” left wingers. But in terms of attacking skills, Andrew Mangiapane is unlikely to match him. This season he has only 27 (9 + 18) points in 48 matches, although he plays in the leading combinations and does not remain in the reserves by the coach’s decision. And the 2021/22 championship was a record for him, when he scored 55 (35 + 20) points for performance. For comparison, Andrey scored 74 (39 + 35) in his debut regular season.

How beneficial is this trade for Vancouver?

From a financial point of view, the club definitely remained in the black. Not only does Lindholm earn less than Kuzmenko ($4.85 million) right now, but he will also become a free agent in the summer. And if he doesn’t have to, he will go look for a new job, while Vancouver will have enough free money to find a replacement. Or extension of existing agreements. After all, in the summer, the contracts of ten hockey players expire at once, including a trio of strong defenders - Nikita Zadorov, Tyler Myers and Philip Gronek.

The more interesting question is whether Lindholm can help the Canucks compete for the President's Cup and championship. And here serious questions arise. As some journalists rightly noted, Tocquet and company would rather get beaten by the Russian than get the Swede. And this may be the main problem. After all, right now finding him a position in the team looks like an extremely difficult task.

Lindholm plays his best game as a center, but in the first two lines this place is occupied by stars JT Miller and Elias Pettersson. Consequently, the Swede will either have to act in an unusual role for himself, or fall into the lower three. And although such an all-rounder will be able to adequately perform his functions in the third combination, will this be beneficial for the team? After all, there are not enough top wingers even for the top 6.

Additionally, there is no guarantee that Lindholm will immediately return to the level of his best seasons in a new environment. Last year he slowed down, and in this regular season he was not the leader of even the problematic Calgary team. At the time of his departure, he was fourth in the list of scorers, and fifth from bottom in terms of usefulness (“−8”).

Which Russian player successfully played for Calgary?

In recent years, the Canadian team has certainly not been one of the best places for Russians to develop their careers. Since 2014, only five have played for the Flames. And if we take out the goalkeeper Artyom Zagidulin who once appeared on the ice, they were all defenders. Nikita Nesterov and Alexander Elesin tried themselves here, and Yan Kuznetsov still does not give up hopes of gaining a foothold in the team and thereby repeating the success of Nikita Zadorov. But although the latter played 177 matches for the team in the regular season and even scored 19 goals and 30 assists, he hardly considers this period of his career successful. Otherwise, Zadorov would hardly have requested an exchange during the current championship. By the way, he ended up not just anywhere, but in Vancouver, which just a couple of months later again agreed on a major deal with Calgary.

At the same time, only three Russians scored more than 100 points for the team from Alberta - and all in the 1990s. The leader is still the legendary forward Sergei Makarov. He was selected in the 1983 draft, but joined the team only six years later - then he was 31. But despite this, he immediately adapted to the North American championship and scored 24 goals and 62 assists, thanks to which he won the prize for the best newcomer - Calder Trophy. By the way, because of this, the NHL subsequently limited the age of possible winners of this award and thereby deprived Kuzmenko of the chance to take it.

In total, Makarov played four seasons for Calgary and scored 292 (94 + 198) points, after which he moved first to San Jose and then to Dallas. German Titov spent a year more at the club (107 + 121), after which he was replaced by Valery Bure (93 + 99). Formally, the compatriots even managed to play together - in the 1997/98 regular season. But if the former was then one of the leaders of the Flames, the latter was just getting accustomed to a new place and took to the ice in only 16 meetings. And then he witnessed one of the worst stretches in Flames history. During his four-year stay with the team, he never made it to the playoffs.