Ilya Kovalchuk, W
On paper, it made sense for the Kings to sign forward Ilya Kovalchuk to a big contract in free agency in the 2018 offseason, amid a couple of disappointing playoff exits in the previous few years for the team.
This past year, we crowned the Kovalchuk contract the worst free agent signing in the history of the Kings' franchise.
I understand why, at the time, the Kings decided to sign Kovalchuk. The Kings entered the 2018 offseason desperate for additional offensive firepower after struggling to consistently generate scoring the previous season.
There was a time when Kovalchuk was one of the biggest offensive difference makers and most impactful playmakers with the puck on his stick in the league in the 2000s and early 2010s decades. Kovalchuk won the Rocket Richard Trophy in 2004 with the Atlanta Trashers and he scored 50 goals twice in his career.
The signing also reflected a franchise attempting to extend its competitive window with an aging veteran rather than beginning a long-term transition toward a younger core.
But the version of Kovalchuk the Kings got at the age of 35 in the 2018-19 season was a far cry from his former self with the likes of the Trashers and New Jersey Devils in his first decade in the league. Kovalchuk only played 81 games over the course of two seasons with the Kings (from 2018-2020), registering just 19 goals and 43 total points.
The Kings struggled to contend for the postseason in Kovalchuk's two years with the organization in his mid-to-late 30s.
In the 2019-20 season, Kovalchuk steadily saw his playing time on the ice and his role in the roster lineup offensively dwindle. He was placed on waivers by the Kings amid the 2019-20 season after he only played 17 games with the team.
Considering Kovalchuk occupied nearly 10 percent of the salary cap at the time, the Kings simply never received enough production or value from the contract.
Even years later, Kovalchuk’s contract remains one of the clearest examples of a high-risk free-agent gamble failing to pay off for Los Angeles.
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