An intriguing name was placed on the NHL’s waiver wire on Sunday afternoon.
The Los Angeles Kings waived Arthur Kaliyev at 2 pm ET.
The 23-year-old winger was the Kings’ second-round selection (33rd overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft. Kaliyev has played parts of four NHL seasons recording 35 goals and 71 points in 188 regular season games. In nine postseason games, Kaliyev has been held pointless.
Kaliyev has not played in any of the Kings’ 38 games this season because of injury.
After negotiating a one-year, $825,000 contract with the Kings, just days ahead of training camp, Kaliyev suffered a fractured clavicle while battling with defenceman Kyle Burroughs on the second day of camp.
The winger was recently loaned to Los Angeles’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, for a five-game conditioning stint before today’s news. In those five games, Kaliyev recorded a goal and an assist.
Kaliyev’s connection to the Senators goes back to his draft year when the Senators used the 32nd overall selection to take centre Shane Pinto. In the Central Scouting Bureau’s final rankings, Pinto was the 28th-ranked North American skater, while Kaliyev ranked seventh.
Kaliyev’s offensive production in the OHL drove his draft value. Widely praised and renowned for his NHL-ready shot, he tallied 51 goals and 102 points in 67 games during his draft-eligible 2018-19 season.
Since turning professional, Kaliyev has struggled to replicate that offensive impact. His shortcomings — pace, attention to detail away from the puck and lack of physicality — have diminished his worth and put him in an unenviable spot. His coaches do not trust him enough to play top-six minutes and believe his overall skill set is unfit for a bottom-six role.
Kaliyev will be looking for a fresh start following a difficult 2023-24 season in which he set a career low in goals (7), points (15) and games played (51). His struggles led to several healthy scratches, and his name was circulated in NHL trade circles.
A trade obviously never came to fruition, but he will likely find a new home now.
He may even land in Ottawa.
The Senators’ hockey ops group has first-hand experience with Kaliyev. He won an OHL championship in 2018 and spent three years with Michael Andlauer and Steve Staios as part of their Hamilton Bulldogs. The front office will have a familiarity and intimate knowledge of his strengths and weaknesses.
The Senators have also shown comfort in using a similar player, Adam Gaudette, at the top of their lineup.
The journeyman has tallied 13 goals and 17 points in 37 games for the Senators this season, averaging 11:27 of ice time per game. Gaudette has undoubtedly benefited from riding his unsustainably high 27.7 shooting percentage. He was inevitably due for some regression, so he may be experiencing that now. Gaudette has scored only once in his last 14 games.
Like Kaliyev, Gaudette is not a burner, according to the league’s NHL Edge data.
There are separators with the shot data. Kaliyev has a heavier shot.
Gaudette has spent the past few games playing alongside Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson, but Nick Cousins has also played up the lineup with Josh Norris and Claude Giroux. Theoretically, there may be an opportunity for an offensive shooter like Kaliyev to get a chance to play because of his offensive skill set.
The organization should be looking at adding more skill. When I spoke to Jacques Martin, the senior advisor to the coaching staff last month, he acknowledged the need for another scorer.
“When I look at our team now, I don’t think we have a lot of scoring yet,” said Martin. “But the coaching staff has done a great job teaching and making our players play the 200-foot game.”
Many of the team’s depth additions were made with designs to improve the team’s defensive aptitude, and the underlying metrics support the team’s improved performance in that facet of the game. With these defensive gains, it should afford the Senators a chance to gamble on the potentially untapped potential of a young player.
According to HockeyViz‘s isolated impacts, Kaliyev’s showed some offensive potential last season, even though his surface numbers were not that impressive.
With one of the league’s thinnest farm systems, the chance to add a young player earning close to the league minimum without moving any future assets should be too tempting to pass up.
When discussing Kaliyev’s draft profile and when he could prospectively go in the 2019 NHL Draft, Steve Staios once told The Score‘s John Matisz, “Maybe you get him a little bit later and he becomes your best player.”
Kaliyev likely would not become Ottawa’s best player. Hell, he might not even make it to the Senators because of where they are situated in the order for the claims. But there is a chance he can fulfill some of his potential.
It just might happen later than the Kings or Kaliyev would have preferred.
This story comes from The Hockey News Ottawa website. For more Senators coverage all season long, check out THN Ottawa. Recommended articles include:
