Top team emerges as frontrunner to land Kovalchuk!

Kovalchuk wants to get this done ASAP!

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Top team emerges as frontrunner to land Kovalchuk!
Zuma Press

A new chapter begins for veteran player Ilya Kovalchuk as he cleared unconditional waivers on Tuesday, allowing the Los Angeles Kings to terminate his contract and make him an unrestricted free agent.

Kovalchuk last appearing in a game on Nov. 9, but he continued to skate and travel with the Kings before leaving the team on Monday. He is now focused on finding a new team and yes, the forward is hoping to stay in the NHL as his agent J.P. Baryy begun the process of meeting with teams on Tuesday afternoon.

According to KHL insider Igor Erenko, Kovalchuk is looking to join a top contender and would accept a pay cut to do so. It is believed that the Boston Bruins are interested in landing Kovy for the remainder of the season. 


As hockey insider Darren Dreger of TSN points out, the 36-year-old is hoping to get back to playing as soon as possible. A few teams have reportedly inquired about him, but it remains to be seen where he will choose to play. 


Kovalchuk received the final signing bonus in his contract on Sunday - for $2.65 million - and has only a salary of $700,000 remaining for this season. He will, however, continue to count against the Kings’ salary cap at a hit of $6.25 million through next season, after inking a three-year, $18.75 million contract with the Kings in 2018. 

The Bruins only have about $1.79 million in salary cap space to play with, according to Cap Friendly. While many expected them to be looking for a right winger to play next to center David Krejci, it seems like GM Don Sweeney might be tempted to land the left wing. 

He collected just three goals and nine points in 17 games with the Kings this season. The veteran forward had 16 goals and 34 points in 64 games last season, his first since returning to the NHL after five years in the KHL. In a total of 897 career games, Kovalchuk has 436 goals and 859 points in the NHL.

Where will he rank up some more this season? To be continued… 

Source: Twitter