The Montreal Canadiens playoff hopes were hanging by a thread when the calendar flipped to 2020. They made a few desperate moves to try and improve their lineup in the second half of the season. They traded a fourth round pick for Marco Scandella and they also signed Ilya Kovalchuk.
Kovalchuk had disappointed during his year and a half stint with the Los Angeles Kings. He signed a three-year contract in 2018 worth more than $18 million in total. He scored 34 points in 64 games during his first season in California. This season wasn’t much better as the big Russian winger had nine points in 17 games.