Kings, Mathieu Joseph Agree To Terms

The Kings have agreed to terms on a contract with winger Mathieu Joseph after he cleared unconditional waivers today to become a free agent, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports. The deal runs for the remainder of the season at a prorated cap hit of $900K, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Joseph, 29, had his contract with the Blues terminated to find an opportunity elsewhere at a reduced cap hit. He was in the final season of a four-year deal at a $2.95MM cap hit and forfeited roughly $500K in actual cash by opting for the termination and landing a prorated contract in Hollywood.

Los Angeles has signaled they’re dropping out of the playoff race after a tough stretch out of the Olympic break, dealing away wingers Warren Foegele and Corey Perry in the last 24 hours. With an injury list that also includes Joel Armia, Quinton Byfield, Kevin Fiala, and Andrei Kuzmenko, though, they were simply in desperate need of bodies up front to fill spots for the stretch run. They’ll find one for free and for cheap in Joseph, who wins a chance to continue contributing in an NHL role for the last few weeks of the season to hopefully boost his stock heading into free agency.

While Joseph brings some good speed and physicality, he’s been one of the league’s worst finishers over the past couple of years. That won’t help out a Kings team that shoots at just 9.3% too much, but he’ll still bring over 450 games of experience while helping L.A. avoid overstressing some underbaked forward prospects over the next few weeks. He’d put up two goals and 11 points in 39 showings in St. Louis this year before landing on waivers, averaging 12:41 per night.