Pittsburgh Penguins forward Andrei Kuzmenko has taken a leave of absence from the team after his father was killed in a bear attack in Russia, the club confirmed Thursday.
Alexander Kuzmenko, 62, died Tuesday while on a fishing trip in the Tuva Republic, a remote region of southern Siberia bordering Mongolia, according to NHL.com, which cited Russian media reports. A bear emerged from nearby woods and attacked him, and the six travel companions with him on the trip managed to drive the animal off, NHL.com reported. He was taken first to a nearby settlement and then airlifted to a hospital in Kyzyl, the regional capital, where he could not be saved.
Kyle Dubas, the Penguins’ president of hockey operations, confirmed the death in a statement carried by The Associated Press. “Our deepest thoughts and sympathies are with the Kuzmenko family and their loved ones as they grieve the loss of Alexander,” Dubas said, asking that the privacy of Andrei and his family be respected. Penguins head coach Dan Muse also offered condolences, according to NHL.com.
Kuzmenko, 30, practised with Pittsburgh on Thursday before leaving for Moscow to be with his family, NHL.com reported. The Penguins have granted him an indefinite leave of absence, and no timeline for his return has been announced.
The Ukrainian-born forward remains a familiar name to Canadian hockey fans from his two and a half seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. He signed with Vancouver as an undrafted free agent in the spring of 2022 and scored 39 goals in his rookie season, one of the highest single-season totals by a Canucks rookie in franchise history. The Canucks traded him to the Calgary Flames in January 2024 in the deal that brought forward Elias Lindholm to Vancouver, CBC News reported at the time.
Kuzmenko went on to play for the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings before signing a one-year, $5-million US contract with Pittsburgh as a free agent on July 1, 2026, according to NHL.com. Across 271 NHL regular-season games with the four teams, he has recorded 182 points.
News of the elder Kuzmenko’s death spread quickly through the hockey world Thursday, with tributes and condolences posted by current and former teammates on social media, according to multiple U.S. sports outlets, including ESPN and Bleacher Report, which also reported on the leave of absence.
The Penguins are scheduled to open their NHL regular season next week. The team has not said whether Kuzmenko’s leave will affect his availability for training camp or the season opener.
