Montreal Canadiens sign Ilya Kovalchuk to one-year deal

The Montreal Canadiens needed some scoring and they’re taking a flyer on former Los Angeles Kings forward Ilya Kovalchuk.

After much speculation of Ilya Kovalchuk potentially signing in Boston, that would not be the case. Instead, the recently bought-out Los Angeles Kings winger signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

Before we get into the stats and what the Canadiens are getting in Kovalchuk, let’s quickly breakdown the contract. For those that don’t know, a two-way contract means he has two different salaries, based on where he plays.

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If Kovalchuk is playing for the Canadiens in the NHL, he earns $700,000. However, if Kovalchuk is sent down to the Laval Rocket in the AHL at any point, his salary becomes just $70,000. It’s a low-risk, high-reward deal. Now, let’s get into what the Habs are getting.

Kovalchuk is a former 50-goal scorer, who has won the Maurice Richard trophy and been to two All-Star games. However, his once illustrious NHL career ended abruptly when he left to play in his home country of Russia in the KHL. For several years, he teased a return until finally, after five years, he returned by signing with the Kings last season.

In 271 games played in that span, Kovalchuk was third among Devils players in goals with 120. The two players ahead of him, Zach Parise and Patrik Elias, both played far more games than him, recording just 28 goals more.

He also ranked fourth in assists with 139, while still playing far fewer games than the players ahead of him. Kovalchuk ultimately finished fourth in points with 259, with the third-most primary points with 204. Finally, he had a solid 58.54% Corsi For% (CF%).

Flip the script to his second NHL stint with the Kings, and I see a player who has been taking the heat for arguably no reason. Kovalchuk has scored 19 goals from last season into this year, which ranks seventh among Kings players. What makes that notable is that he has played 500-1300 minutes less than the players who have scored more than him.

He also had the eighth-most assists with 23 (tied with Adrian Kempe), while playing in at least 400 minutes less than those players who rank ahead of him. Finally, he ranked eighth in points with 42, while playing in at least 500 minutes less than the players with more points. To put that into perspective, Kovalchuk had the second-best points per hour rate, behind only the sensational Anze Kopitar, with 1.94. He ranked fourth in CF% with a 53.35% mark, which is solid.

Where he does struggle is in the defensive end. It’s evidenced by his Goals For percentage, which was 14th in that span at a 44.19% clip. His expected GF%, however, shows us he can absolutely turn it around. He actually ranked fifth on the Kings in that metric with a rate of 52.4%.

Is Kovalchuk the player he used to be? Absolutely not. However, that’s not what the Canadiens signed him for. They signed him to a one-year and extremely cheap deal for him to give them depth. He gets criticized constantly by everyone, but he genuinely has everything that a team would want in a third-line wing spot.

The Canadiens, if they play him in positions for success, will get everything they wanted, and then some. This was an excellent mid-season addition, and it didn’t cost them a pick, prospect or roster player to get. Great move, in my honest opinion.