Canucks’ Kuzmenko skates with scratches ahead of Kraken game

It looks like winger Andrei Kuzmenko may be a healthy scratch when his Vancouver Canucks visit the Seattle Kraken.

At the Canucks’ morning skate on Friday, Kuzmenko was missing from his regular spot in the lineup with Elias Pettersson and Ilya Mikheyev. Instead, Sam Lafferty was in his place while Kuzmenko was an odd man out with defencemen Cole McWard and Akito Hirose.

Kuzmenko was also missing from his spot on PP1, replaced by defenceman Filip Hronek.

If Kuzmenko is indeed a healthy scratch Friday night, it will mark just the second time in his NHL career. The 27-year-old was last held out of play on Nov. 13, 2022 by former head coach Bruce Boudreau.

Kuzmenko has 14 points (three goals and 11 assists) over 19 games this season.

Based on the line rushes this morning, it also appears that Nils Aman, who was just called up from Abbotsford of the AHL, could be slotting into the lineup between Phil Di Giuseppe and Nils Hoglander.

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