The LA Kings have acquired winger Andrei Kuzmenko from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a 2027 third-round draft pick. The Flyers retain 50% of Kuzmenko’s $5.5M cap hit.

The Flyers Receive: a middling draft pick for a player they were obviously not interested in keeping. Kuzmenko tenure with the Flyers has come to an end, and his jumbotron tribute will no doubt include highlight after highlight of each one of his seven games with them. He had five points in seven games, but was a minus-5. Of his seven games with them, his xG%5v5 was above 50% just three times, but over 44 games with Calgary and Philly, his xG%5v5 sits at a respectable 51.8%, albeit a career-low.

The Kings Receive: A high-upside, but high-risk player who owns a very good, accurate shot, but doesn’t use it nearly enough. He had 38 goals two years ago, but only averaged 1.75 shots per game. Last season that rate slipped for 1.68 and this year it is at 1.18. Interestingly enough, and perhaps this is John Tortorella’s influence/insistence, but his shot rate was up to 1.85 during his seven-game Flyers’ stint.

His 38-goal season came with an extremely high luck metric (13% 5on5 S%). That luck metric has since come down, but this season it sits at 6.2%, which implies weaker puck luck. The Kings are struggling for offense, and they gave up a third-round pick for this rental, so they’ll give him a chance. Kuzmenko is either a top-six player, or he’s not an NHLer. Playing him on a deeper line is trying to shove a square peg into a round hole.

Fantasy players impacted: This is a great situation for Kuzmenko, however this situation is based on a team that doesn’t score very much. No player is on pace for 70 points, and only two players are on pace for more than 60 (Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar), with Quinton Byfield as the only other player looking at topping 50. If Kuzmenko can continue his Philadelphia pace (five points in seven games, which is 16 points in the last 22 games), then we’ll consider that a win for Kuzmenko owners.

This bumps Alex Turcotte out of the top six, as you will likely see Kempe, Kopitar and Kuzmenko in an All-K line, followed by Kevin Fiala, Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere on the second line. The third line would remain Phillip Danault, Warren Foegele and Trevor Moore. Offensively, the three lines become more of a threat, as does the power play. Kuzmenko likely bumps Laferriere off the top PP unit, who in turn would bump Foegele or Danault out of PP2.

Fantasy Players this helps, in order

1. Kopitar
2. Kempe
3. Kuzmenko

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order

1. Laferriere
2. Foegele