Leo Komarov is joining SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL

Cam Lewis
Cam Lewis
Leo Komarov is joining SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL

It looks like Leo Komarov has played his last game with the New York Islanders, and perhaps in the NHL altogether.

According to Artur Khairullin of the Russian sports news outlet Sport Express, Komarov is joining SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. Arthus Staple, an Islanders reporter for The Athletic, has reported that the Islanders will place Komarov on unconditional waivers on Thursday to terminate his contract.

Komarov was originally selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the sixth round of the 2006 NHL Draft. After putting together multiple strong seasons in the KHL, Komarov finally inked a one-year, entry-level deal with the Leafs in May of 2012.

In his first season in North America, the lockout-shortened 2013 season, Komarov scored nine points in 42 games. He went back to the KHL for 2013-14, scored 34 points in 52 games with Dynamo Moskva, and returned to Toronto after that on a four-year, $11.8 million contract.

Over the course of that four-year deal with the Leafs, Komarov played in 285 games and scored 48 goals and 113 points.

Komarov hasn’t been as productive with the Islanders as he was with Toronto. In his first three seasons with New York, Komarov played in 163 games and scored 48 points.

After one game in 2021-22, Komarov was placed on waivers, and, as he did multiple times in 2021, he cleared. General manager Lou Lamoriello said that Komarov would report to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL once he was healthy, but it appears that won’t be the case.

As Staple reported, the Islanders will place Komarov on unconditional waivers on Thursday and his contract will be terminated once he passes through. The Islanders would then be off the hook for Komarov’s $3,000,000 cap hit in 2021-22, a significant win for a team pressed right up against the salary cap ceiling.

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