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Is This Penguins' Forward Poised For A Career Resurgence In Pittsburgh?
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- Is This Penguins' Forward Poised For A Career Resurgence In Pittsburgh?
Last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins made the playoffs for the first time since 2022, and a large part of that credit goes to general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas for making all the right moves in the trade market, in the draft, and in free agency to get them to the postseason.
One of the biggest drivers last season was forward Anthony Mantha , who was signed to a one-year deal and put together a career year by registering 33 goals and 64 points in 81 games in 2025-26. Mantha, 31, since moved on to the New Jersey Devils ,
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But, even with Mantha gone, the Penguins may have found themselves a player who could fill that void.
This summer, Dubas and the Penguins signed forward Andrei Kuzmenko to a one-year, $5 million contract . Like Mantha, Kuzmenko, 30, has had an NHL career riddled with injuries and inconsistency despite legitimate goal-scoring ability and offensive upside.
While Kuzmenko isn't 6-foot-5 like Mantha is, he does have one thing that Mantha did not when beginning his Penguins' tenure: A 30-goal season under his belt.
Yes, that season of 30-plus goals happened all the way back in 2022-23, which was Kuzmenko's rookie year with the Vancouver Canucks . Playing alongside an elite version of Elias Pettersson that year, he recorded 39 goals and 74 points in 81 games, and the 5-foot-11 Russian forward appeared as if he was going to be a key piece of a competitive Canucks team for a long time.
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Well, the Canucks fell off - and so did Kuzmenko, as he posted 22 goals and 46 points in 72 games the season after, which was split between Vancouver and the Calgary Flames . He dealt with injuries in the following two seasons, limited to 66 games in 2024-25 between three teams and 52 games with the Los Angeles Kings in 2025-26 and scoring 24 goals and 62 points in that time.
The inherent risk with signing a guy like Kuzmenko is that he's 30 years old and unlikely to replicate his rookie production at this point, and he's also yet another veteran making life more difficult for a crop of Penguins' forward prospects who are trying to stick full-time in the NHL.
But, even if it seems unlikely, is that rookie production something he can replicate in Pittsburgh? Maybe so, especially since there's a good chance he'll have some talented centers to flank.
Given the sheer volume of forwards the Penguins will have entering camp this season, it's hard to predict what the NHL lines and combinations might look like. Of course, Sidney Crosby , Rickard Rakell , and Bryan Rust have spent substantial time together as a line, and Egor Chinakhov figures to remain on a line with Evgeni Malkin , who is deployed primarily as a winger these days.
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If the Penguins decide to deploy Rakell as a second-line center - which is unlikely, given the fact that the team re-signed center Tommy Novak to a three-year deal - Kuzmenko could see some minutes with Crosby from the get-go. But, if they don't split up the top-six that worked for them for a large chunk of the season last year, that probably means Kuzmenko will be deployed on a third line with Ben Kindel and, potentially, Nicholas Robertson , who the Penguins acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs this summer.
And, honestly, that could make for an intriguing combination.
Kindel, 19, showed impressive two-way prowess last season as an 18-year-old rookie, registering 17 goals and 35 points in 77 games while operating primarily as the team's third-line center. Kindel's offensive ceiling figures to keep growing, and his added size and improved skating should help him continue to build on his all-zones skillset.
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Robertson, 24, had 16 goals and 32 points in 78 games with the Leafs last season, and he was mostly deployed in a middle-six role. Robertson's offensive production has remained steady over the last three seasons, but it's possible that he is poised for a breakout in Pittsburgh.
Kuzmenko and Robertson aren't notoriously fast skaters, and Kindel - while fast enough - is pretty average in that department, too. But the one thing Kuzmenko and Kindel have in common is hockey sense, and with Kindel as a playmaking center, Kuzmenko a sniper and goal-scorer, and Robertson as a north-south crash-the-net kind of player, that combination could be one that works for the Penguins and a third line.
And, make no mistake, Kuzmenko can dangle, dazzle, and finish, as he has the pure goal-scoring ability and puck skills to be a legitimate scoring option if he has the right supporting castmates.
Sure, Kuzmenko and Robertson aren't the most defensively inclined, but that won't matter quite as much if Kuzmenko scores 30 goals and Robertson can hit 20. At the end of the day, the Penguins' third line is poised to be more offensively inclined regardless, as Kuzmenko being elevated in the lineup means someone with offensive talents would be sent down the lineup.
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Having Kuzmenko in the mix with a legitimate playmaking center gives the Penguins options, and whether he's on a first line with Crosby, a second line with Malkin and Chinakhov, or a third line with Kindel, he should be well-positioned to, at least, be a legitimate goal-scoring option for them. Whether or not he repeats Mantha's production remains to be seen, but if he can, it should help give Pittsburgh another legitimate shot at the playoffs.
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