The LA Kings have signed Russian forward Ilya Kovalchuck to 3 year deal. Kovalchuck has played in the NHL with the former Atlanta Thrashers (now the Winnipeg Jets) from the 2001-02 season to 2009-10 when he was traded to the New Jersey Devils. He then played from 2009-2013 with New Jersey, at the end of the 2013 season with New Jeresy he decided to go back to Russia to play in the KHL. He played in the KHL from 2013-2017, and won the KHL’s version of the Stanley Cup with former LA Kings defenseman Slava Voynov, and NHL superstar Pavel Datsyuk with SKA Saint Petersburg in 2015. Kovalchuck is also a Olympic Gold medal winner as he won the gold medal with the Olympic Athletes from Russia at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
I think Kovalchuck will give the Kings the scoring boost they need to win games, in the past 4 seasons the Kings scoring has not lived up to the hype since the team last won the Stanley Cup in 2014. Ilya will fit good with the teams style of play as well. He will wear number 17 this season for the Kings
