Canucks News: Winning the Kuzmenko sweepstakes is a good first step
By Jim Lynch
The Vancouver Canucks have been a quiet team during the first few months of their postseason. The team hasn’t been up to much with the Stanley Cup playoffs still going on. That all changed Monday when it was confirmed that Andrei Kuzmenko was committing to play for the Vancouver Canucks.
Andrei Kuzmenko is the top free agent available outside of the NHL, and the Vancouver Canucks are the team that won the sweepstakes.
Teams like the Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings and Minnesota Wild all made sense for Kuzmenko to play but he chose Vancouver over every other team available.
The Canucks are looking to build their first championship roster, and it seems like Kuzmenko recognized that as his agent Dan Milstein said:
"“We were impressed by what the Canucks organization wants to accomplish and the winning culture they are building. Andrei felt a good connection with the management team and is looking forward to playing for Bruce Boudreau.”"
Apparently, management drove over six hours to meet with Kuzmenko in Michigan on Friday, a gesture like that went a long way as now he is committed to starting his NHL career there.
Kuzmenko is not eligible to sign with a team until July 13th so that is when fans can expect this addition to become official.
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Vancouver still has some big free agents they need to get re-signed, most notably Brock Boeser who is eligible for RFA status. The team has the potential to really bounce back next season with a good core group including players like Bo Horvat, Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland and now Andrei Kuzmenko.
Kuzmenko is definitely going to get a big opportunity in the top six for the Canucks. This past season in the KHL Kuzmenko scored 20 goals and added 33 assists good for 53 points in 45 games, he added 14 more points in the playoffs including seven goals in 16 games.
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Only time will tell whether or not the Canucks are adding the next Artemi Panarin. That definitely is the hope for Canucks fans!