In 2018, the Los Angeles Kings were coming off a first round playoff loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, the second time in three seasons they would lose in the first round and now four years removed from their second Stanley Cup. They were in need of a boost, especially to their offense and Ilya Kovalchuk seemed to be their answer.
The Kings would sign Kovalchuk to a three-year deal worth $18.75 million and unfortunately the move would not go well and be one of the worst free agent signings in franchise history. At one time, Kovalchuk was one of the top goal-scorers in the NHL and had a streak of five straight seasons with 40 or more goals.
However, Kovalchuk would leave the NHL after the 2012-13 season to play in Russia with SKA Saint Petersburg. After four seasons, he looked to return to the NHL and found a home with the Kings as they would sign him to that three-year deal.
He would end up only playing a total of 81 games over two seasons and finished with only 19 goals and 24 assists. The Kings would end up placing him on waivers after only 17 games in his second season and he would eventually go on to play with the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals before retiring from the NHL after that season.
In that first season he had 34 total points but 14 of them came in the first 14 games of the season. As the year went on, his role diminished and he saw his ice time steadily decrease.
It was a combination of multiple factors that would make this the worst free agent signing for the Kings
There was a number of reasons that this was the worst free agent signing by the Kings as it was a combination of the lack of production with the fact that he would play only 81 games on a three year contract. On top of that, the AAV of $6.25 million was much more consequential than it might be now because of the salary cap.
That season, the salary cap in the NHL was only $79.5 million so an AAV of $6.25 million was 8% of their total salary cap. When considering this was a bigger AAV than Brad Marchand, who made $6.125 million, it shows just how much of a mis-step it was by the Kings.