Halford & Brough discuss what the Canucks are going to do with Andrei Kuzmenko, who was scratched again last night.
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34 Comments
He needs to work his way back to the Pettersson line, hes just not there at the moment
Have you ever watched him check in his own end, not good
Petey needs someone on his line…
Why not send him to Abbotsford for the rest of the year and into January?
Yes you can
lol wow you guys do know there is ONLY so many people in the world right? Meaning cant put everybody on top line—cant put everybody on 4th line…cant "everybody" anything when ONLY so many spots exist
The fact of the matter is that at the beginning of the year, you'd be hoping that ONE of Hoglander, Garland, Lafferty, Joshua etc would become a good news story. Suter, Blueger, etc.? Maybe they're a bonus. And hopefully one, MAX two of those guys would chip in offensively on a team that would have Kuz, Petey, and JT rolling, while hoping that Brock gets back to what, 25 goals on the year?
But it turns out that Kuz is the ONLY GUY on the team that can't play Tocchet hockey. Heck, even Myers can play Tocchet hockey.
He's on an island because he's the only bad news story in an otherwise 'better than anyone could have expected' situation.
Trade him to the Flames
We need a “Dog Cam” for Halford & Brough clips
You don't change a roster that's playing this well. Let him sit…until perhaps an injury or the team cools off.
You Put in WHOMEVER IS PRODUCING ALWAYS!
I think he's still shaken up from when he got smoked by a JT Miller clapper. He looks a bit skittish out there. Tocc is giving him time to get himself together and get his confidence back.
The problem is that the team as a whole are overachieving. At some point, guys are going to slump. Pettersson has had one (of sorts) already. They're going to need someone like Kuzmenko to step up and score. He does the most difficult thing in hockey, something you can't teach. I remember last year, Miller was the biggest problem defensively. I've yet to see Kuzmenko be that bad defensively. Is he going to forecheck and back check like Dakota Joshua? Absolutely not. And that's not what he's paid to do. If they run him out of town, they'll get nothing for him and it will be at their own peril.
if he keeps getting scratched he will obviously not want to be there much longer which is obviously the reason its happening , hes a good player and thats too bad that he has been treated this way , not only is a decent player hes a decent guy and he loves it here in vancouver , but if you treat him like cattle then hes going to want off the farm , we are not in the dressing room to know all the details but his record last year shows he was tops on the team in scoring , so how is he going to fix any issues by sitting out each game , as long as he gets paid
The problem with Kuzmenko is his foot speed prevents him from heavy forechecking. He is shifty, which can get him to the right spots to score but he's not going to be a good forechecker. I'd be satisfied if he would backcheck if necessary but I don't see it much and it isn't consistent. He seems to play high man because he just can't get anywhere else in a timely fashion and that's not good. Sometimes you have to switch off and he seems unwilling to do that.
Audio levels are very low 🙁
He's not a Tochet guy. He sat even last season when the score wasn't an issue. Vancouver with Tocchet > Vancouver with Kuzy. I'm a fan of Kuzy and Petey, but it's probably better for Kuzy to change team
Sportsnet, please, for the love of god. Fix your audio levels before posting, this is really annoying lol
volume is bad. sorry i am out after 10 seconds
Play with on a line with Brock and JT for a couple of weeks to build his value up as much as possible then trade him for a d man!
If you go by plus-minus he is down at the bottom with the guys that are healthy scratches.
I get where Tocchet is at. I get it. I watch Alot of Canuck games and Kuzmenko is lazy without the puck almost like when JT millar didn't backcheck a few games but Kuzmenko is very noticeable almost every game, lazy without the puck
Fix your audio man
This reminds me of Vigneault and Sergei Shirokov.
coaching staff should work with kuzi on ice during xmass break
Boeser wasn't that great the last couple of seasons…now he's unbelievable again. This is probably the same situation. Every player has "meh" years. I think they should give him more time. Boeser had about 3 years of "Lets see what happens" and now we are enjoying that patience.
it will be big mistake by Vancouver to trade him for nothing, hi is absolutly the best player of Vancouver, hes speed hands shoot, but this season is not so goog for him, that happens, my opinion is, that Tochcet dont like him, it will be mistake
Play Kuz with Petey, FFS.
If a player is sent to the 4th, it's not because he isn't scoring. It's because the coach wants to see the work that a 4th liner puts in.
If they don't/won't/can't, it will be obvious.
The way to get off the 4th line is to prove you can do the work.
The guy has 2 hits in 30 games…
2!!! He's not in the play.
And dont tell me.. "hes a goal scorer"
Matthews has 33 hits.
Petey has 40 hits
And Boeser has 15.
Canucks management is in a tricky situation right now with Kuzmenko. He’s a good player, but it’s not working under Tocchet. The longer they wait, the more his value could plummet. HOWEVER…he could bounce back and Canucks could look a fool for even thinking of trading him. Whatever the Canucks get back in return, is probly not as much fans think Kuzzy is worth. THAT is the challenge. If all we get is a bottom pairing defenseman and a draft pick, fans will throw rocks. Bottom 6 forward and a draft pick, they’ll throw rocks. Couple draft picks, maybe, but still probly throw rocks. Unless there’s another top 6 forward out there to be had, fans won’t be satisfied. That’ll be hard to do. In a vaccum, a top 6 RHD plus a draft pick isn’t bad. Same with a young roster forward, (albeit bottom 6) plus draft pick isn’t bad. Canucks don’t have much leverage with Kuzmenko similar to the Flames with Zadorov.
My opinion is we practice patience with Kuzmenko. I wouldn't trade him when he's at his lowest value. I think he can figure it out this season, but i think he'll have a good offseason if he has a really off year (for the entirity of it).
Pretty simple. Come playoff time, where it all matters, I don't think the Canucks will be looking to Hoglander – as surprisingly well as he is doing – or Aman (inserted in place of Kuzmenko) to score goals consistently. As I commented elsewhere, this is a situation that needs to get resolved, and surely GM Allvin, who has made all these great moves to get the Canucks to where they are at – basically first overall in the NHL – knows it.
One suggestion I saw in a comments section noted to deal him for a first round pick. Sorry, the window is now. Trading a 39-goal scorer (and 39 in today's NHL with top goalies, top d-men matching up against your big guns, and more NHLers playing a 200-foot game, unlike in past eras, where scoring 40 and 50 was not as difficult as it is now) for a pick that would probably take some 3 years to make the roster, with no guarantee the player even pans out, not the best strategy. Also, we saw what happened in 2012, where GM Mike Gillis traded Cody Hodgson (16 goals, playing on the 3rd line with barely any power play time) for Zack Kassian, where the injury to Daniel Sedin just before the playoffs occurred via the elbow by Duncan Keith, and saw the No. 1 seed Canucks' offence suddenly go dry, with Kassian not even dressing in the latter part of the series. No need to repeat that in any way. If you want to go the deal route, make sure you get back a scorer.
No problem with the audio, keep Kuz.