Sportsnet: So when Tocchet sits out Andrei Kuzmenko, that decision isn’t made in isolation? You collaborate?
Allvin: Definitely. At the end of the day, Rick’s job is to put the best team on the ice that he thinks can win the games. He’s the head coach and he’s making those decisions. But prior to any lineup decision, we have a conversation about it.
Sportsnet: How concerned are you about Kuzmenko’s struggles this season and that a $5.5-million player has been a healthy scratch five times?
Allvin: If you look at it, he’s a second-year pro in the National Hockey League. Although he is older (27), we know the second year is tough. We’ve become a better team and we want to play a more structured game. I would say I’m very pleased with his last few games. I think Kuzie understands what he needs to do in order to stay in the lineup.
Sportsnet: Have other teams been calling you about him?
Allvin: Obviously, he’s a hell of a talented player and teams are definitely, you know, checking in when they see a guy like that is not in the lineup.
Sportsnet: Is what to do with Kuzmenko the biggest decision you have to make before the March 8 trade deadline?
Allvin: The players usually dictate where they fit and how they perform and all that. Toc is a puzzle guy and we want to make sure the puzzle works. So we talk about different ideas and things, and then we’ll see where things go.
He also talks about other team related things in the article as well.
10 comments
Second year is always hard. I say we keep him and trade him if nothing improves by the next trade deadline line
Earn your fuckin ice time
I trust Chef Allvin to find a good resolution to the Kuzmenko situation, regardless of how we get there (through trade / Kuz plays better / something else).
I get wanting to keep him but I don’t see us being able to get big pieces in the trade deadline without moving either Kuzmenko’s or Mikheyev’s cap space. Both have their upsides and downsides but the most glaring thing about them is their 4.5M+ cap hits and inconsistent performances. If they were both generating like they were last year, we’d be a true contender already and we wouldn’t need to do anything in the trade deadline.
In the past we would’ve said to move one of Myers, Garland, or Beauvillier but now Beau is gone, Garland is one of our better players, and Myers is actually vital to our D-core now (what a statement to make). Who else has a significant enough of a cap hit to be able to give us space to make a meaningful change?
Second season is always tough, no argument. But for 5.5 million dollars I’d hope for a better excuse than the old sophomore jinx.
He had mentioned that he was doing an insane amount of training and fitness stuff that he’d never done as a pro athlete this off season, so I was expecting him to come in absolutely lights out… but I wonder if all that physical training didn’t translate to what he wanted, or if he started the preseason tired, or some other hidden mystery we would have no way of knowing.
I’m fully on board with keeping him and letting him go to FA if we’re contenders next year too. He was completely free, and his potential upside is huge. I’m also on board if we sell him for something that fills the teams needs better. I just don’t think he’s in a place to be given up on, and this article suggests that Allvin thinks the same way. He’s got SO much, he is WORTH their effort, they just need to try to figure it out, and they’ve got the rest of the regular season to keep trying.
Kuzzy can score. 39 goals isn’t an accident. The way the rest of the team is producing means they have the luxury of waiting it out with him and seeing if he comes around. It doesn’t make sense to trade a guy that can score, at a loss, for another guy that can score.
Unless of course they decide to go all in this year then anything goes.
Stop picking on him ffs
PUZZLE GUY
Insightful. Just wondering, is 2nd year in NHL really that bad for a lot of new players?