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The Los Angeles Kings are now 4-0-0 since acquiring Andrei Kuzmenko, and his stat line for this streak is 0-0-0 +1. He averages just 14:43 time on ice for being their much-needed top six forward acquisition of 2024-25. So, is his presence just stirring the drink right now, or is this something to be concerned about moving forward?
Four games are a small sample size, but they also represent a player coming to a new team and trying to integrate immediately on a top line with very little time to gel. Kuzmenko has been gifted with one of the only players on the Kings' roster who could be described remotely close to a 'superstar' in the league, Adrian Kempe, centered on a line with an all-time Kings great and future Hall of Famer in Anze Kopitar.
While Kuzmenko has been dry on the stat sheet, drawing a couple of tertiary assists and enhancing new looks on the powerplay, his linemates have seen production. Kopitar has 2g and 3a in his last four as a +1. Kempe himself has a goal and 2a, also a +1. It isn't necessarily a worrisome narrative in Los Angeles with their new acquisition because their top line is producing (albeit some of those stats are 5on4), and they have been perfect record-wise since the deadline. This included starting with a perfect back-to-back set against the playoff-desperate St. Louis Blues, then the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights.
However, the top-line trio has now rattled off back-to-back games, where they have ended up on the wrong side of analytics. In 8:49 of 5on5 via NST against the Capitals, the three had a 45.45% Corsi and a 33.3% Fenwick, evening out on shots for and against (1-1), outchanced 3-1 and high danger 2-1. This is a game where they followed up with a slightly better-off performance than against the Islanders (36.84% Corsi, 50% Fenwick, 5-3 SF/A, 0-1 GF/A, 2-6 SCF/A, 1-1 HDCF/A).
That's two games in a row that the Kings' top line has become somewhat cratered. Should it matter if the Kings keep rattling off wins?
I don't think that stock matters as much, particularly when the top line has really looked the part of being a third or second line compared to the Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield show, supported by young Alex Laferriere. Those three together have been absolutely dynamite.
The three posted 70% Corsi and 73.33% Fenwick and outshot the opposition 11-2 in their 10:12 of even strength time together, the highest amount of any line against the Capitals. For reference, Both the Samuel Helenius line and Phillip Danault line received more ice time as a line configuration than the Kopitar line with Kuzmenko.
There is no five-on-five production yet from Kuzmenko, but again, the team is winning, mainly due to the emergence of this new top line of Byfield (goals in five straight) and being able to roll four lines for the first time this season.
There is an immediate impact that hasn't seen stat line production but is still operating at a much higher rate, and that is the powerplay with the new element of Kuzmenko.
Before the acquisition, the Kings were floating around 15% on the powerplay, which was good enough from not taking dead last or second to dead last in the league. In the time they've had Kuzmenko, they have operated at 25% (2-8), which has been boosted by having a right shot presence down low and in front of the net. This was an exploited position that Viktor Arvidsson and Gabriel Vilardi used back when the team flirted with being one of the better powerplay groups in the league. If anything, that 2-8 success rate seems pretty low for a new-look powerplay that keeps flashing plays such as this:
The team is mounting unprecedented success for the time of the year they are achieving it, as past Rob Blake playoff-bound teams the last three seasons started to fizzle in the final stretch. It feels though as if they have an untapped keg of potential in the form of Kuzmenko during this hot streak.
Kuzmenko might not be producing yet, as it was a low-risk-high-reward acquisition that didn't take any pieces off the roster, but the team has surged forward with the new alignment. The Kings have outscored their opposition from the Trade Deadline over a two-to-one goal margin (15-7), while their powerplay has been the best it's been all year despite the feeling out process with Kuzmenko (25%). Even though he's not on the penalty kill, that, too, has been a major strength (15 for its last 16).
The team will take the wins and dividends that are seemingly bursting out of the sides of this potential wagon that just leapfrogged Edmonton for second place in the division. Though I highly doubt that Kuzmenko will finish the season without a point, the team would undoubtedly take a pristine record if that's the trade-off. It also feels like it's coming down to a bursting of the dam moment for the former 39-goal scorer.
Once that dam breaks, will this hot team have even another gear?
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