Yep. His own coach is telling everyone, if he’s not scoring, he’s actually hurting the team, and they’re better without him.
It really is basic, classic stuff with him. Teams have all seen him now. There’s an actual scouting report that says, pressure him and he’ll fold. He needs open space to score, and as of now, he hasn’t shown he can beat NHL dmen 1 on 1, to create that extra space he needs.
All NHL dmen cheat, and give you space outside. If you prove you can score with that space, they adjust and stop cheating against you. They’ll actually pressure you. They take that space away.
It’s one of the major differences between the NHL and every other league. Dmen can play 1 on 1 against very skilled forwards. KHL dmen can’t. So they “give” that outside space. It’s that simple.
It’s why many of these wingers can score consistently in the KHL but not in the NHL. Many of them have that initial success here too. Maybe not as much as Kuzmenko, but same basics apply. After NHL dmen adjust, and pressure them, they can’t score anymore. It’s why so many of them bust in the NHL, and go back to Russia.
It’s up to him to now respond and so far it’s glaring that he hasn’t been able to.
We see this more with “Natural” Russian and Czech wingers than anyone else. Very skilled players too. They just can’t create space under pressure, and if you can’t do that in the NHL, you won’t be around very long. Especially if you’re not a 200’ player. It’s a very different game in North America than in Russia.
It really is that simple.
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