Flames hope struggling Kuzmenko finds scoring touch

The Calgary Flames want Andrei Kuzmenko to change his approach to shooting.

The Russian winger is in the final year of a two-year, $11 million deal he signed with the Vancouver Canucks back in 2023 before he was dealt to Calgary in the Elias Lindholm trade.

The 28-year-old pending unrestricted free agent is stuck on one goal so far this season, a power-play marker back on Oct. 15, the fourth game of the season.

Kuzmenko’s last even-strength goal was back on April 14. He is on pace for two goals this season after scoring 22 last season and 39 with the Canucks in 2022-23.

Kuzmenko’s shooting rate has plummeted this season and he’s been a healthy scratch multiple times, given he’s not used on the penalty kill or in key defensive situations.

He’s gone five straight games without a shot on goal and is averaging 1.03 shots per game, well below the 1.68 he averaged last season, when he scored 22 goals.

His shooting percentage has also plummeted, from 18.18 per cent last season to 3.33 per cent this year.

Flames head coach Ryan Huska spoke after practice on Monday and said he wants to see Kuzmenko’s shot volume increase and also emphasized that the right winger needs to put himself in positions to shoot more often.

“We all want him to shoot more because we know the type of shot that he does have,” Huska said. “There was a night [last season] where he had two goals and he took a shot just inside the blueline and scored. I wouldn’t consider that a high-danger chance from there, but he’s got a very hard shot where, oftentimes, when it hits the net, there’s something that’s going to come off it, whether it happens to find its way in or if there’s a rebound for someone else.

“For me, when a guy is struggling to put the puck in the net when that is part of his game, I would revert to shot volume and that’s where we do push him.”

Kuzmenko, the club’s third highest-paid forward, admitted he’s a ways off from rediscovering his form. His nine minutes and 49 seconds of ice time in Vegas on Sunday was the third-lowest of his career.

“I hope,” he said, when asked if he feels like the goals are close. “[Before I] score, there are other steps…first step is a very good feeling, second step is hard work and gym, step on [the] ice…to score is not so close, but I hope.”

Kuzmenko, who spoke before Huska, insisted on continuing his approach of quality over quantity.

This season, he is averaging 0.66 high-danger shots per game. In 43 games with the Canucks last season, he had 1.40 high-danger shots per game, which was in the 83rd percentile in the league last season.

“I need more dangerous moments for [scoring],” he said. “It’s not simple shots, because if you shoot simple shots, how many per cent will I score? Probably one per cent [out of] 100 per cent. …I like dangerous shots. But before dangerous shots, I need a good position for shots. There’s a lot of things.”
The Flames had high hopes for Kuzmenko after they acquired him from the Canucks for Lindholm in February. He ended the season with 25 points in 29 games as a Flame.

On a club with just two other right-shooting forwards, he had an opportunity to be an everyday top-six winger for the Flames this season.

He began this season playing on the top line with Nazem Kadri and Yegor Sharangovich and was on the first power-play unit. Kuzmenko started with five points in his first three games, but his play declined steadily after that. He was demoted to the fourth line midway through the Flames’ 5-0 loss on Oct. 28 game in Vegas.

He cycled through lines before eventually getting scratched on Dec. 3 when Calgary hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets. Kuzmenko has been scratched six times since, either due to poor play or a lower-body injury.

Huska said that even if Kuzmenko is struggling to find the back of the net, he still has to compete and impact the game in other ways.

"The concern comes when he's not touching [the puck]," he said. "That's where I think part of the issue comes into play. So, how do you go about getting the puck more or getting around it more? For me, that's about skating and making sure that you're competitive to be there on loose pucks, you're competitive when it's you and someone else fighting for it. That's what he needs to focus on, and then the shots will come from there."