Pittsburgh Penguins forward Andrei Kuzmenko is on bereavement leave after his father Alexander was mauled to death by a bear on a Siberian fishing trip.
Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas said the organization learned of the death “this morning” and placed the player on leave. Alexander Kuzmenko had been camping with a group along a forest bank of the Bolshoy Yenisei River when the animal struck.
Breitbart News reported that fellow fishermen got the injured man into a boat, reached a nearby village, and summoned a medical rescue helicopter. He made it to a hospital intensive care unit. He did not survive.
The attack unfolded in Russia’s Siberia region, far from the NHL arenas where Andrei Kuzmenko makes his living. The group had set up camp on the riverbank. The bear bit Alexander in the face. What followed was a race against time over water and air.
Dubas posted a brief statement on X after the news reached Pittsburgh.
The general manager said:
“The Pittsburgh Penguins organization was deeply saddened this morning to learn of the passing of Andrei Kuzmenko’s father, Alexander,”
That was the team’s public word. No fuller timeline, no hospital name, and no village name have been released in the available accounts. Russian sports outlet Sport 24 carried the sequence of the fishing trip, the mauling, the boat run to the village, the helicopter, and the death in intensive care.
Kuzmenko joined the Penguins this offseason on a one-year, $5 million contract. In 2025 he played for the Los Angeles Kings and put up 25 points, 13 goals and 12 assists. He is a Russian native whose career has taken him across the NHL. The leave now pulls him away from the rink at the worst possible moment.
Six other people were on the fishing trip with Alexander. Their names have not been published. Neither have official statements from Russian police, wildlife authorities, or the hospital. The core facts remain the ones the Penguins and Sport 24 put forward: a camp on the Bolshoy Yenisei, a bear attack to the face, a desperate evacuation, and a father who died in intensive care.
Absolute dates for the attack and the death have not been given. Dubas’s announcement used only “this morning.” The river, the forest bank, the boat, the village, the helicopter, and the ICU are the fixed points in the record. Everything else, exact hour, full passenger list, medical findings, sits outside what has been confirmed.
For Andrei Kuzmenko, the hockey calendar is secondary. A father is gone. The team has stepped back to give him room. In a sport built on travel, grit, and long seasons, that is the only response that matters.
Family still outranks the schedule. When the call comes from home like this, the only decent move is to stop and go.
