Kuzmenko's agent credits Kucherov for his client's NHL contract

He was completely overlooked in the NHL draft every year that he was available. However, KHL star Andrei Kuzmenko now has his first NHL contract at 26 years old, signing with the Vancouver Canucks after doing interviews with a number of teams. Kuzmenko had his break-out year in the KHL in 2021-22, scoring 20 goals and 53 points in 45 games with St. Petersburg. It's not really a surprise that he was overlooked for so long. Kuzmenko had an unremarkable lead up to the draft, failing to get any points in seven games for Russia at the 2016 World Juniors. He's also had a few good, but note really noteworthy seasons in Russia until this year. His agent, Dan Milstein, says it was Nikita Kucherov who got him to take on Kuzmenko after he saw him play.

"Nikita Kucherov found this talent two months after any NHL team could have taken him in the draft. But the scouts didn't find Kuzmenko, Nikita did. He watched CSKA's preseason game in August and called me, gushing about young Andrei Kuzmenko. We've been working towards this day for years," said Milstein.

Kucherov is also represented by Milstein. "Kuch" and Andrei Vasilevskiy just happen to be his two most lucrative contracts in the NHL.

Milstein added that over the course of the last year, he was contacted by pretty much every team in the NHL regarding signing Kuzmenko. He ultimately chose six to meet face-to-face with. The Canucks happened to be one of those. Milstein would not name the others. He also didn't say exactly why Vancouver won out, but happened to mention in an interview a few months ago that Kuzmenko's goal is to play top six minutes in the NHL.

Not only has Kuzmenko landed his first NHL contract, but he has some huge names in his corner as he begins his career in North America.

Source: Championat.com

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