On July 1, the New York Islanders gave Leo Komarov a four-year $12 million dollar deal. It’s assumed that he was brought in to replace Nikolai Kulemin, who was a fourth line penalty killer for the Islanders the last two years.
The kind of money Komarov got is excessive but on the surface, his PK skill seemed to at least justify the idea of bringing him in. According to a model from Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic, it might actually be disastrous.
Luszczyszyn sites that Komarov lost a step on defense last year, which would affect him in five on five situations.