Report: Kuzmenko "Likely to be Flipped" By Flyers By Trade Deadline

The Philadelphia Flyers decided to clear out some cap space in their move sending out Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier, plus a couple of draft picks.

But according to insider Nick Kypreos, Kuzmenko's time in Philly could be short-lived.

The real prize for Philadelphia in their trade with Calgary last week were Jakob Pelletier and the two draft picks (a second and a seventh), but Andrei Kuzmenko is not the greatest fit for the team and it's not likely they have a whole lot of use for him...
The fact is the Flyers are likely to quickly flip Kuzmenko ahead of the trade deadline.

Indeed, Flyers GM Danny Briere, in talking with Jeff Marek on The Sheet about why he took on Kuzmenko, didn't exactly give him a ringing endorsement or make it sound like he was a key part of the deal.

"Having a chance to see him up front and getting to know him more on a personal level and see if there’s a future and see if we want to re-sign him and keep him aboard," said Briere, before seemingly dropping the real reason that Kuzmenko was included in the trade:

"But there’s also the fact that his salary kind of fit in because we had to take some salary back from Calgary."

The 29-year-old Russian is earning $5.5 million on an expiring contract, so that money will be off the books at season's end—or by March 7th, if Kypreos is correct about Kuzmenko being flipped by the Flyers by then.

The former 39-goal scorer, in his rookie season with Vancouver in 2022-23, dropped to 22 goals last year, and has found the net just four times this season in 37 games with Calgary and another one with Philly.