It's possible that Kuzmenko will continue to figure out the league and become a guy who can play for a winning team.
But it became clear last year that he was a real weak spot on a team with a system that needs to run tight and can't afford to have someone floating around like Mike Ribeiro out there.
The other thing is, the team's braintrust has a hell of a lot more info to go on than we do. So one would presume that they worked with him on it endlessly, talked to him, and just felt like he either wasn't quick enough on the uptake of North American two way hockey, or wasn't willing to alter his game.
Either way, getting rid of his 5.5 million for this year was an absolute Godsend and getting Lindholm worked out well. This will remain true even if he puts up 30 goals and 60 points while Calgary flounders and finishes 26th in the league.