In what has been a dumpster fire of a season for the Vancouver Canucks from the very beginning seems to have gotten just a little better. After Bo Horvat made his wishes known he won’t sign long term, to the botched firing of head coach Bruce Boudreau, it has been one interesting season for the Canucks, and they’ve only played 48 games.
While the Canucks may seem to be heading into a fire sale at the March 3rd trade deadline, they did announce a contract extension today.
Forward Andrei Kuzmenko signed a two-year contract extension with the Canucks on Thursday.
The deal has an average annual value of $5.5 million.
The 26-year-old Kuzmenko is in his first season with the Canucks and has played in 47 games registering 21 goals and 22 assists, four penalty minutes, and a plus-4 rating.
Kuzmenko ranks second on the team in goals and power-play goals (nine). His 43 points are tied for third, while his 32 even-strength points (12 goals, 20 assists) rank second. He leads all Vancouver skaters in shooting rate (24.7%) and ranks third in the NHL in that category (minimum 20 games).
He leads all first-year NHL players in almost every offensive category, including goals, assists, points, points per game (0.91), power-play goals, and power-play points.
Kuzmenko has had 14 multipoint games this season (second on the Canucks), highlighted by his first career hat trick and a season-high four-point game against the Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 3.
Kuzmenko has been one of the lone bright spots on the Canucks this season after Vancouver originally signed him to a one-year, entry-level contract on July 13.
