Andrei Kuzmenko has rejoined the Penguins following the death of his father, Alexander.
“He’s obviously been in our thoughts here while he was away,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “We’re really happy that he’s back here – just being in the building, around his teammates, and getting to skate. It’s tragic. We feel for him, his family, and thinking of them here over the past week. We’re happy that he’s back with his teammates.”
The Penguins learned of Alexander’s passing on September 24, with Andrei traveling home that day to be with his family. President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas said they had the full support of the Penguins organization, and that Andrei would return when he was ready.
He practiced with the team on Friday ahead of their home opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, wearing his new number 62 to honor his parents after switching from number 10. Kuzmenko seemed to be as good-spirited as anyone could be in his situation, which was no surprise to his friend Ilya Solovyov.
“Everybody is different, (but) he’s been like that every time as long as I saw him, and I know him. He was like that every single day,” Solovyov said. “He’s just a guy who loves to be positive, and every time is in a good mood. He tries to be positive. Sometimes, not everybody can have a good day. You look at him, and he’s smiling, laughing, and sometimes kidding. The guys look at him and start laughing, too. You can see a positive guy, and you start smiling yourself, no matter what.”
Afterward, Kuzmenko graciously offered a statement to the media about what he and his family have been going through. Here is the transcript and video:
“Hi everyone. I want to say, because I respect your job and I understand this is hockey, it's a little bit media work. And I be honest in my life and I don't want (it to be) false about these things. I want it true. I, one time, say about everything. And this is, my father go to permit fishing with friends and he stayed in the water. And bear (stand) behind him and attack. And my father fight (the) bear one hour 10 minutes and he still lived after two days and a big shock. And this is permit fishing. Everything is good. I want it (truth of) what happened. The organization monitored in Moscow.
“The next thing (is) about support I want to say thank you for everyone who supported me. And I want to say thank you in the hockey world because I’ve seen the messages. A lot of information, everyone understands what happened because this is news and the whole word travels. And thank you for Russia. There's a lot of people who supported me. Thank you for everyone who supported me. And a lot of messages I see on Instagram. But sorry, I can't answer everyone. And I want to say thank you.
"Last thing about my number. Because my usual number is 96, I can’t use it, and I understand No. 10, it's not important to me. I like it in my life and the big things. And now I understand this is my mother's birth year (of 1962) and my father, (was) 62 years (old) when he died. And today, we have 26 years. And I want to take 62 (as a) number.
"Next about hockey. Now, I'm happy to go back to Pittsburgh. I’m happy. I missed everyone. I go back, back to reality, back to my job. And let’s go, keep working. I missed hockey, really. After last season, when I have two injuries, and I want to play and I have had a good (preparation) for the season. And I want to play and help my team. And great start after (the) first game. I think we’ll be good this season because I believe in this team."
