Ilya Kovalchuk signs a 2 year deal.

A reunion with the Habs is now officially off the table.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Ilya Kovalchuk signs a 2 year deal.
David Kirouac/CSM/Zuma

There was a segment of fans in Montreal that were holding out hope for a potential reunion between free agent forward Ilya Kovalchuk and the Montreal Canadiens, but any hope of that now seems dead with Kovalchuk reportedly set to return to the Kontinental Hockey League.

On Saturday the KHL announced via their official social media that Kovalchuk had agreed to a new 2 year deal with Avangard Omsk, a franchise in their league. The financial terms of Kovalchuk's contract have not been disclosed by the KHL and have yet to be reported by independent media at this time.


It seems that this puts an end to Kovalchuk's much anticipated comeback to the National Hockey League, one that in the end lasted only two seasons and saw him playing for 3 different teams. That is a rather impressive feat considering that his comeback was heralded by a 3 year, $18.75 million contract signed with the Los Angeles Kings, a team he only played a total of 81 games with. 

All in all during his time split between the Kings, Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens, Kovalchuk appeared in 110 NHL games during his return and recorded 26 goals, and 34 assists for a total of 60 points over that stretch of play.

His 22 games with the Canadiens, games in which he recorded 6 goals and 7 assists for 13 points, were no doubt the highlight of his comeback, but at that point he was doing so on a league minimum contract of just $700,000.

It is unclear whether or not Kovalchuk had any NHL offers on the table, or if he simply made the decision to go back closer to home given the myriad issues that the NHL and its players will have to deal with during the upcoming season.

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