{"id":449580,"date":"2026-02-06T23:39:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/449580\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T23:39:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:39:34","slug":"kuzmenko-kings-defensemen-kadri-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/449580\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuzmenko, Kings Defensemen, Kadri \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Kings forward Andrei Kuzmenko<\/a> left yesterday\u2019s game with an upper-body injury, the team announced last night<\/a>. Kuzmenko left the bench with an injury and attempted to return<\/a> in the second period, but was unable to get back into the game. The Kings have not issued any further update on Kuzmenko\u2019s status, but the fact that the Olympic break has now begun does give Kuzmenko some runway to recover before games start up again.<\/p>\n

Kuzmenko, 30, has had an up-and-down tenure in Los Angeles. He was an instant success after he was traded there last season, scoring five goals and 17 points in 22 games. He added six points in the Kings\u2019 first round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. He has just 23 points in 51 games this season, but he\u2019s far from the only Kings forward who has seen his offensive production take a step back year-over-year. It will be interesting to see how Kuzmenko\u2019s usage does or does not change after the addition of Artemi Panarin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other notes from the Pacific Division:<\/p>\n

After yesterday\u2019s game, Kings head coach Jim Hiller told the media, including team reporter Zach Dooley, that the Kings\u2019 defense is \u201cpretty banged up\u201d and that several blueliners are \u201cquite a ways south of 100 percent.\u201d Dooley noted that this is a new development, as previously only veteran Joel Edmundson<\/a> had been understood to be dealing with an injury. With the Kings in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, it\u2019s clear the Olympic break is coming at a useful time for the Kings.
\nCalgary Flames center Nazem Kadri<\/a> figures to be one of the top players available at his position in the lead up to this season\u2019s trade deadline, but recently, trade rumors surrounding his name have slowed. Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman wrote today<\/a> that Kadri\u2019s trade situation is moving more slowly than anticipated in part because teams are looking for clarity on Vincent Trocheck<\/a> and Robert Thomas<\/a>, two centers whose names are swirling in trade rumors. Friedman noted that the Flames are \u201cflexible\u201d in terms of what kind of return they\u2019re seeking in exchange for Kadri, which could help the odds that a trade is completed before the deadline passes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Kings forward Andrei Kuzmenko left yesterday\u2019s game with an upper-body injury, the team announced last night.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[870,26,5,145,2054,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-449580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-andrei-kuzmenko","9":"tag-calgary-flames","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-los-angeles-kings","12":"tag-nazem-kadri","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}