Kings’ Andrei Kuzmenko is surprising everyone since the trade: ‘It’s really hard to believe’

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LOS ANGELES – Less than a month ago, Andrei Kuzmenko joined his third NHL team this season. It has been long enough for Kuzmenko to feel at home in Los Angeles. More than enough time has passed for the winger with natural offensive instincts to learn one rule about playing with the Kings that might as well be chiseled in stone.

When you play next to Anze Kopitar – one of the most accomplished two-way centers in NHL history – you must backcheck. If you don’t, you’ll get a look from him. It won’t be nice.

“If I’m a little bit lazy and not good backcheck…” Kuzmenko said. And while the syntax might not be perfect, the animated look on his face when discussing his respect for Kopitar got his message across.

Kuzmenko is fitting in better than the Kings could have anticipated after they acquired him from the Philadelphia Flyers for a 2027 third-round draft pick, with the Flyers retaining 50 percent of his $5.5 million salary cap hit. It was the only move Kings general manager Rob Blake made before the trade deadline to strengthen his club for the postseason.

It was a low-risk move, with a low cost, for a well-traveled winger whose stock had fallen considerably since his 39-goal season in 2022-23, but Kuzmenko’s successful integration into the defense-oriented Kings had coach Jim Hiller jokingly taking credit for identifying Kuzmenko as a potential impact addition. “We’ll all open up our hand for that one,” Hiller said.

Kuzmenko has five points in his last two games, and nine points in his last seven. That’ll make a coach smile. But what makes Hiller happier is that Kuzmenko’s offensive surge over the past two weeks hasn’t come at the expense of playing sound defense, a tantamount principle for the Kings.

The 29-year-old former KHL star didn’t get on the scoresheet in his first seven games after the trade. That didn’t bother Hiller or the Kings much because he was putting in the work away from the puck. When you are tasked with playing alongside Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, you do need to contribute offensively but you must defend in the neutral zone and your own zone.

With the Kings holding a 2-1 lead on Tuesday, Kuzmenko stripped Jets defenseman Logan Stanley of the puck at the red line and dashed in on Winnipeg star goalie Connor Hellebuyck with Kempe to form an odd-man rush. Kuzmenko’s offensive instincts took over as he deftly faked a pass to Kempe, then beat Hellebuyck with a shot between his pads.

Andrei Kuzmenko was FIRED UP about that goal! 💥

He’s got five points in his last two games! pic.twitter.com/d7WrDtfZfT

— NHL (@NHL) April 2, 2025

Great shot. Better fake. Excellent defensive play leading to both.

“He’s come in and I think he’s seen the effort that guys play with and the commitment to playing both ends of the rink hard,” Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper said. “He’s bought in right away. You watch him off the puck, how hard he’s tracking back and everything. And that kind of energy is leading to him getting rewarded on the other end as well, so it’s been great for us.”

“It’s very important moment for me, how I play defense. I like it,” said Kuzmenko, who noted that the five coaches he’s played for in the NHL have all had a hand in helping him play better in the neutral zone.

Kuzmenko’s buy-in on the defensive side has helped Hiller settle his forward lines after he made changes to every group throughout the season. Long unsettled was who would play left wing with Kopitar and Kempe. Many were tried there. No one stuck. (Alex Turcotte, who’s now out with an injury, started there for many games but often would be replaced by others in-game.)

Hiller put Kuzmenko there on Day 1. The way Kuzmenko is playing, he’ll stay there.

“If you want to come in and join a team and not do that part of the game, you’re going to stick out like a sore thumb,” Hiller said. “It’s just the weight of the group. It’s the expectation from the teammates, Kopi notwithstanding. I think it’s for everybody. And then I think it feels good to be part of that.”

Injecting new life into a moribund power play was among the main reasons Blake took a flyer on Kuzmenko. It’s looked better since he was put on the first unit. His right-hand shot and dose of creativity are welcome additions.

What Hiller didn’t expect was Kuzmenko also being just as dangerous in the open ice.

In the first period on Tuesday, he separated Winnipeg’s David Gustafsson from the puck in the neutral zone on a successful line change and then got in position to take Kempe’s drop pass and perfectly feed Kopitar for a one-timer past Hellebuyck.

ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER PERFECT PASSING PLAY pic.twitter.com/61dedafsPE

— LA Kings (@LAKings) April 2, 2025

And then there was his highlight-reel play in Sunday’s rout of the San Jose Sharks. Kuzmenko sent Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini sprawling into the void before setting up a trailing Vladislav Gavrikov for a touch pass to Kempe and a finish to the brilliant sequence. The play had Kempe cracking that “it was a great play by Larianov and Makarov.”

Adrian Kempe (31) nets home his second of the game on a gorgeous passing play from Andrei Kuzmenko and Vladislav Gavrikov.

Assists:
Vladislav Gavrikov (22)
Andrei Kuzmenko (18)#GoKingsGo #TheFutureIsTeal #LAKvsSJS pic.twitter.com/3MuwpYjvGm

— LA Royalty (@LARoyalty1967) March 31, 2025

“He’s very evasive,” Hiller said. “He’s able to create separation and hang on to the puck. It’s really hard to do. Something’s coming at you. These guys are big and strong and fast and he’s able to quick-twitch and you see him — he’ll fake and then he spins. And now he’s got three feet and he’s able to make the next play because of it. Where most players in the league, that guy’s coming out at you, you’re just pushing it along the boards hoping your next buddy gets it. He pushes it.

“He’s able to create that separation as well as some of the top guys in the league, frankly, in the O-zone like that. That’s really, really added a lot to our team. I think to Kopitar and Kempe, they’re able to find some ice, get available and they know they don’t have to quickly just support him. He’s going to be able to on his own create some separation and be able to make the next play.”

All of that either will take on greater significance (or none) depending on how Kuzmenko plays under the increased glare of the playoffs. But as the final games of the regular season play out, it’s looking more and more like Kings-Oilers for a fourth consecutive year. A collision that can’t be avoided.

After three consecutive series losses, the Kings need something different. It might be securing home-ice advantage and playing games 1 and 2 at home, where they’re an incredible 28-4-4, instead of opening at Rogers Place.

Before Kuzmenko arrived, the Kings signed Warren Foegele and Joel Edmundson as free agents last summer and traded for Kuemper and Tanner Jeannot.  All four moves have worked, with Foegele and Kuemper looking particularly brilliant. And the early returns on Kuzmenko have been more than encouraging. Tuesday’s star turn against a top-shelf team like the Jets showed he can make a difference.

Meanwhile, Kuzmenko’s playful personality is flowing. During his interviews, he’s willing to banter in a language he hasn’t mastered from a spoken standpoint. He quipped about how the Jets are becoming “friends,” since he has faced them six times this season while playing for Calgary, Philadelphia and now L.A. When asked about his move to beat Hellebuyck, Kuzmenko said with mock astonishment, “You want my secret? I don’t say it.”

He has brought a different vibe to the Kings, who often keep their fun-loving side behind closed doors. (Though their postgame group pictures provide a window into that.) In the end, it’s only going to matter if Kuzmenko makes an impact against the Oilers in the first round.

So far, he’s done more than they anticipated. When an NHL bench boss includes the words, “I don’t think in our wildest dreams …” as he describes a player’s impact, that’s not just run-of-the-mill coach-speak.

“It’s really hard to believe, to be honest with you,” Hiller said. “He had the big year in Vancouver, but he really seems to have gotten his game back. I remember him in Vancouver. I didn’t see him that much. He was really dangerous on the power play. Right now, he’s just all over the ice. And I mentioned before, you see him on the backcheck too, right?

“He’s quite a player right now.”

(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)

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