Ilya Kovalchuk to the Montreal Canadiens is an interesting turn of events

The Montreal Canadiens are taking a chance by signing Ilya Kovalchuk, but the move actually makes a lot of sense considering their situation.

Montreal Canadiens’ general manager, Marc Bergevin, has been very busy since the turn of the new year. After a pair of trades on Thursday to improve the defense, the Canadiens are continuing to try and make moves to sneak back into the playoff picture.

The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that they have signed free agent Ilya Kovalchuk to a one year, two-way contract for the remainder of the season. The deal will pay Kovalchuk $700,000 at the NHL level, and $70,000 at the AHL level.

The 36-year-old Kovalchuk signed with the Los Angeles Kings in the 2018 offseason after playing in the KHL for six seasons. Kovalchuk scored 16 goals and 34 points on a bad Kings team, but had several issues with the coaching staff and management throughout the season. Kovalchuk played 17 games this season with 3 goals and 9 points, but was healthy scratched and had his contract mutually terminated in December after neither side saw a future together.

The Canadiens initially passed on Kovalchuk according to Pierre Lebrun, but have suffered through a plethora of injuries this season, basically forcing their hand to make this signing if they still want to compete for a playoff spot. Right now, the Habs are missing four forwards to injury, most recently losing Brendan Gallagher indefinitely to a concussion.

The important detail with this contract is that it’s a two-way deal, meaning that Kovalchuk can be sent to the minors without having to clear waivers first. With the deal being league minimum, this won’t interfere with their cap space should they look to acquire more players before the deadline.

If Kovalchuk is truly unable to compete at the NHL level anymore, then the Canadiens lose nothing. They just send him to the minors until the end of the season, and that’s the end of it. But if it turns out he can provide for Montreal — unless Kovalchuk is an active liability while the Canadiens are recovering from injuries — there is not much risk to this move.

At the time of this signing, the Canadiens are falling behind in the playoff race. They are 13th in the Eastern Conference, seven points behind the Flyers for the final wild card spot, and six points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the third spot in the Atlantic.

While it’s obvious that Kovalchuk is nowhere near the player he once was, this kind of low risk, medium reward move is one the Canadiens needed to make. Either Kovalchuk works out and they have a bottom six scorer on a league minimum deal, or he doesn’t and he’s sent to the minors.

However if the Canadiens are as desperate as they seem about making the playoffs, they’re going to need to make much bigger moves than this. With the trade deadline a month and a half away, don’t expect this to be the last thing we hear from Bergevin and the Habs.