Veteran defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, one of the few remaining impact players on the free agent market, has signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Kings, sources told ESPN on Sunday.
The 33-year-old unrestricted free agent played last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but his season was cut short by injury and he appeared in only 49 games. Ehrhoff missed the Penguins' first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers.
In spite of receiving a clean bill of health from doctors in the offseason, the versatile Ehrhoff, who three times in his career has recorded at least 40 points, could not find a home during the early days of free agency and had to bide his time until late in the summer.
Ehrhoff, who had discussions with Chicago and Dallas among other teams earlier in the summer, should be a good fit for a Kings team that won Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014 but missed the 2015 playoffs.
Ehrhoff provides nice blue line depth for the Kings who remain in a state of limbo over the status of another top defender, Slava Voynov, who missed almost all of last season while under suspension pending the resolution of a domestic battery charge filed against him last October.