LOS ANGELES -- The Achilles heel of the Los Angeles Kings has been offense, and more specifically, their dreadful power play.
They've spent the majority of the season in the bottom five for power-play percentage, dropping points because of their inability to grab power-play goals.
Then Andrei Kuzmenko was brought in from the Philadelphia Flyers. Since the trade deadline, the Kings are pacing at 26%, a rate that would put them top five in the league.
Of course, it's too small a sample size to make a definitive judgment, and their improvement isn't solely due to Kuzmenko, but it's impossible to deny his impact on the man advantage.
"It looks a lot better, doesn't it? With Kuzmenko," said Jim Hiller after Tuesday's game. "Whether we score or not, can we all agree that it looks a lot more dangerous? You're seeing the puck go down to him on the right side quite a bit more. Tonight was just a special play, sells it with his eyes, passes between the feet. You try to draw that up, but somebody has to make that play, that high-level play."
Hiller's point that whether they score or not, Kuzmenko's improved the power play is a big one. His first few games were filled with plenty of buts. He looks good out there, but he's not getting any points, but he isn't shooting enough, etc. They were all fair criticisms of his first few games, but there was always a player there, and we're seeing him make an impact now.
"He can make some plays that not a lot of guys can," said Trevor Moore on Kuzmenko's early impact. "It's exciting, I think he just gives us a little jump on the power play, those little spin around plays are pretty fun."
It's that creativity Moore highlighted that's been such a breath of fresh air for this Kings team. They were lacking that element, particularly in their right shot forwards, making Kuzmenko an ideal addition, especially with those aforementioned buts mostly gone with the puck going in for him.
The talent level with Kuzmenko has always been clear and the early signs suggest he's a great fit in LA. Crucially, it's not just the on-ice fit either, it's the off-ice fit too.
"I think, Newell Brown just mentioned it, he's got a lot of energy, a lot of passion for life, for hockey," said Hiller. "He's talking on the bench, he wants to look at the iPad. Kopi and Juice have played together a lot, they're usually pretty stoic, and he's right in there talking to them, he's keeping them on their toes. If you spend any time around him, you can just see he has a certain pizzazz to him. I said it the other night, you need character and characters, and I think he fits right into one of the characters."
On and off the ice, Kuzmenko looks to be a great piece of business from Rob Blake and the Kings. It's still very early, and the raw totals still aren't stellar, but he's looking more and more comfortable each game in LA and has a clear positive impact at both even strength and on the power play.
Kuzmenko clicking, getting Anze Kopitar's line and the power play going, could be the difference between the Kings' first playoff round win in a decade and another first round exit.