The next morning, he boarded the Kings’ charter flight to Pittsburgh for the start of a five-game road trip. But on Monday, his stint with the club officially came to a close. The Kings put Kovalchuk on unconditional waivers, drawing the curtain on an 81-game experience that was as brief as it was bumpy. “Ilya Kovalchuk has left the team and been placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract with the club,” the Kings wrote in a statement. With 43 points and a minus-36 rating in his 81 games with the team, Kovalchuk wasn’t the only underperforming veteran potentially clogging up the Kings’ transition to a new generation.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 16, 2019 17:46 UTC