It's rare for a player to be on three teams in one season. If it happens, it is usually someone who has been released, picked up, released, etc. a few times. Someone got hurt, and some team out there is taking a chance on somebody. Getting traded twice in one year is pretty crazy. We saw that twice this season. Mikko Rantanen left Colorado for Raleigh and was then traded to Dallas after just 13 days.
The Flyers have the other player who was traded twice: Andrei Kuzmenko. He was acquired by the Flyers as part of the Farabee-Frost trade. Later on, he was flipped at the deadline for a 2027 third-round pick. For a guy who played just seven games here, that's a respectable return.
The thing is, Kuzmenko is going to be a free agent soon. Should the Flyers inquire about a reunion? After all, while he was here, he seemed to get along fine with everyone. He appeared to have had a connection with fellow Russians Matvei Michkov and Egor Zamula. Would it be worth looking into?
In his seven games, Kuzmenko scored two goals with three assists. For a free-falling team and with Kuzmenko playing a mostly bottom-six role, that's not terrible. He finished the year with 11 goals. This comes after a year where he scored 22 goals and his rookie season, where he scored 39 with Vancouver.
Speaking of Vancouver, Kuzemenko is 29 and has played three seasons in the NHL after starring in the KHL. During that time, he has played for four teams already. Is there something about his personality? Is he too demanding? Is his work ethic sketchy?
There are reports that he can be hard to coach. He cares more about the offensive side of things rather than developing his forechecking game or defensive skills. I get it. Scoring a goal is more fun, but you have other duties as a player. While his time on the ice hasn't decreased all that much, in a significant way, since breaking into the NHL, his point totals have crashed.
Speaking of work ethic, when Rick Tocchet was coaching the Canucks, he had openly criticized Kuzmenko's lack of effort. It was a major reason he was shipped out of Vancouver and sent to Calgary. Tocchet even enlisted his teammates to help out, but to no avail. It got to the point where, and tell me if this sounds familiar, Kuzmenko was benched for failing to listen and perform.
It's also unclear what he feels like he's worth. He earned $5.5 million this season. He probably assumes that he can earn more than that. To be honest, with his stats, he's probably worth only $3-4 million, and I'm not sure he'll be happy with that.
Kuzmenko wasn't bad here. In a different world, I could be open to a reunion here. However, his icy relationship with Tocchet most likely renders this a moot point. He's not coming back to Philly. He's an older player with a diminishing skill set and seems not to want to listen to his coaches. We've been there and done that over the last few seasons. We don't need to go down that road again.