Kuzmenko is like many highly talented people that haven't had to work as hard as many to be effective in what they do. When they are interested and motivated, they are a force. When they are not, the hard work of other less talented people makes up for a lot of disparity in talent. When you are amongst the best in the world at what you're doing, like Kuz is in the NHL, the talent disparity isn't that significant and hard work makes a huge difference.
Kuz is motivated and interested right now. That will wan and he will go back to being somewhere between peripheral, irrelevant, and a liability, unless and until he figures out how to stay motivated and interested.
There's been dozens of guys with this level of talent and similar levels of motivation. Kovalev and Nilsson to name two. There are hundreds of guys who are as talented as your everyday NHLer but never made the show because of the lack of hard work. This isn't unusual and does not reflect poorly on the Flames (or the other teams that have let Kuz walk) at all.
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