Winger Andrei Kuzmenko has chance to be a fan favourite if he brings his goal scoring to the Dome
Andrei Kuzmenko has already noticed something he has in common with his new city — you can bet both are bringing sunshine most days. The 28-year-old Russian who joined the Calgary Flames on the road after the recent trade with the Vancouver Canucks will exhibit that sunny disposition to the Saddledome in his first home game with his new team on Thursday.
He’s noticed the cold, too, although he missed out on the extreme deep freeze here in January. But Calgary doesn’t compare to his homeland — where Kuzmenko said temperatures are often in the minus-60 range.
“Yakutsk … record is minus-75!” Kuzmenko said while holding court with reporters at the Saddledome after practice on Wedensday.
Minus 75 is what many thought he might hit on the ice after joining Jonathan Huberdeau and Yegor Sharangovich on a line, filling in for Elias Lindholm after the trade. The trio is a combined minus-four through their four games together so far but has worked hard to avoid major defensive catastrophies.
Offensively, Kuzmenko got off to a hot start with a goal in each of his first two games. The group went three-for-four on the road trip and got back into wildcard contention, so the positivity is rampant despite the non-stop trade rumours surrounding key players like Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin and Jacob Markstrom with the NHL trade deadline just weeks away.
Fans in Calgary would love to see more of that dynamic offence from the former 39-goal scorer in his Dome debut. And Kuzmenko says he’d love nothing more than to show it to them.
“I want to show what I can do on the ice,” Kuzmenko said in what video shows was a highly entertaining four minutes with the media.
“I want to show my maximum.”
With the language barrier, he’s a man of few words, but Kuzmenko has shown a great sense of humour and comprehension beyond what he’s able to communicate. He used a hilarious hand gesture to indicate he wasn’t whether he prefers the cold and sunshine combination in Calgary or the warm and rainy of Vancouver.
“He’s a bubbly personality. He’s always got a smile on his face. We don’t always know what he’s saying, but I think that’s what makes him a pretty good person for our room,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska said of Kuzmenko. “The guys enjoy having him around, and I think he’s fit into our group really well so far.”
The fans will warm up to him quickly if he shows the scoring knack from his rookie NHL season two years ago when he finished one goal shy of 40 after making the journey from the KHL.
“He’s got a skill set about him that I think will endear him to some people around here,” Huska added. “When the puck’s on his stick, he wants to score and he knows he can score.”