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Kings Prospect Jack Hughes Transfers To Boston University

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Kings prospect Jack Hughes has decided that a change of scenery was needed.  Boston University announced on their Instagram page that the 19-year-old has transferred to them for the upcoming season.

Hughes, the son of Montreal GM Kent Hughes, was a second-round pick back in 2022 (51st overall) following a strong freshman year at Northeastern that saw him put up seven goals and nine assists in 39 games.  However, he wasn’t able to take a sizable step forward last season, notching five goals and 11 helpers in 32 contests, finishing eighth on the team in scoring.

The Terriers have eight NHL-drafted forwards on the team now along with four blueliners, headlined by Lane Hutson, a presumptive early Hobey Baker candidate.  Hughes is hoping that the move will help give him some more opportunities offensively which would go a long way toward helping him earn an entry-level contract.  The Kings have until August 15, 2025 to give him that deal.

Bob Murdoch Passes Away

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Longtime former NHL player and coach Bob Murdoch has passed away at the age of 76 after a four-year battle with Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinsonism, and Alzheimer’s, the NHL Alumni Association said today. Murdoch spent the first three seasons of his career with the Montreal Canadiens from 1970 to 1973 before he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, where he would play until 1979. He was traded again to the Atlanta Flames, the franchise with which he would finish out his NHL career, retiring in 1982 after staying with the team during their move to Calgary.

Murdoch then spent a decade in the NHL as a coach with the Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Winnipeg Jets, and San Jose Sharks. His stints with Chicago and Winnipeg were in head coaching roles, and he won a Jack Adams award in his first season with the Jets in 1989-90 after the team made a 21-point jump in the standings from the prior season.

Undrafted, Murdoch made his way to Montreal at 24 after playing for the Canadian national team and in the minors for the Montreal Voyageurs of AHL. While his role with the team was limited in the first two of his three seasons there, he did suit up in the postseason for Montreal’s Stanley Cup victories in 1971 and 1973. After a breakout year in 1972-73, recording 24 points in 69 games, he garnered a first-round pick on the trade market and was shipped to the Kings.

Murdoch had the best years of his career in California, consistently posting double-digit point totals and playing a strong brand of physical, two-way hockey. In 1974-75, he recorded career highs across the board with 13 goals, 29 assists, 42 points, a +39 rating, and 116 penalty minutes in 80 games. He earned year-end All-Star team consideration that year.

After retiring and then leaving the NHL coaching circle in 1993, Murdoch headed overseas, where he coached in Germany. He lasted just half a season with Mad Dogs München in 1994-95 but immediately found a new job in the DEL with Kölner Haie, where he stayed until 1997. He followed that up with a three-year stint behind the bench of the Nürnberg Ice Tigers from 1999 to 2002. Most recently, he served as a scout for the WHL’s Tri-City Americans from 2013 to 2015.

We at PHR send our condolences to Murdoch’s family, friends, and former teammates.

Ontario Reign Sign Wyatte Wylie to AHL Contract

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Filling out the rest of their bench before the start of the 2023-24 AHL season, the Colorado Eagles have hired Steve Konowalchuk as an associate coach (Tweet Link). This will be Konowalchuk’s third stint within the Colorado Avalanche organization, both as a player and as a coach.

In his playing career, Konowalchuk was originally drafted in the third round of the 1991 NHL Draft. Never an elite point-scorer by any stretch of the imagination, Konowalchuk was a quality defensive player for the Washington Capitals for a little over a decade, assisting in the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1998. Right before the 2002-03 campaign, Konowalchuk was named the tenth captain in Capitals history and would hold that role for two seasons, after a draft day trade sent him to the Avalanche in 2004. Playing in 14 seasons in the NHL, Konowalchuk had his career unfortunately cut short by a Long QT Syndrome diagnosis in 2006.

Taking a few seasons away from the game, Konowalchuk finally returned to the NHL, serving as an assistant coach in Colorado under head coach Joe Sacco from 2009-2011. Konowalchuk then headed Northwest, signing on with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL as a head coach, a position he would hold until the 2017-18 season. He had a brief stay with the Anaheim Ducks, serving as an assistant coach with the team for one season, before then settling in with the New York Rangers for three years as a scout. Finally, Konowalchuk oversaw the head coaching operation with the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL as his last stop before joining the Eagles.

Other notes:

  • The Texas Stars have announced the signing of defenseman Ben Zloty to a one-year contract for the 2023-24 AHL season. An undrafted player out of the WHL, Zloty spent the last four years with the Winnipeg Ice, serving as an assistant captain in his final season with the team. In a total of 207 games spent with a single organization, Zloty scored 26 goals and 163 assists for the Ice and also scored three goals and 37 assists in 34 playoff games in his final two years in Winnipeg.
  • A former fifth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, defenseman Wyatte Wylie has reached a one-year AHL agreement with the Ontario Reign. Appearing as a solid prospect after his last season with the Everett Silvertips of the WHL, Wylie hasn’t been able to transfer his puck-moving ability to the AHL up to this point. In 131 games played, all for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Wylie has scored nine goals and 26 assists in total. Although not much came of it in the long run, Wylie was finally able to appear in a Calder Cup playoff race for the first time in three seasons, going scoreless in three games.
  • Now a seasoned veteran of the AHL, forward Evan Polei has agreed to a one-year contract with the Phantoms for next season. This will be the fifth team Polei has played on in the last six seasons, having also spent time with the Bakersfield Condors, San Antonio Rampage, Cleveland Monsters, and Manitoba Moose. The most successful stretch of play came during his time in Manitoba, scoring back-to-back 20-point seasons. Polei will serve as an experienced veteran in the bottom six of the Phantom’s lineup, showing off the ability to chip in timely goals.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Jakub Dvorak

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In a press release this afternoon, the Los Angeles Kings announced they have signed 54th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, Jakub Dvorak, to an entry-level contract. It will be a typical three-year contract, paying the young defenseman an AAV of $900K per season.

Dvorak is not much of a point scorer but relies primarily on his large frame. Standing at 6’5″, Dvorak uses his body substantially as a hard-hitting defenseman and uses solid body positioning to gain control of the puck.

In his draft year, Dvorak played for Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga, tallying two assists in 24 games. The team played well, finishing with a record of 19-10-10, losing in the playoff quarterfinals to Mountfield Hokejový Klub in five games. Dvorak surely benefited from the wisdom of the former NHL talent on his team, including forwards Tomas Plekanec and Marko Dano.

In all likelihood, Dvorak will start the year on Liberec, as Los Angeles is steadfast in competing for the Stanley Cup this season, and will likely be seeking more NHL-ready talent on the blue line. Even if the Kings did not consider themselves to be in contention for the sport’s top prize, it would be rare to see a second-round pick play a season after their draft.

Kings Re-Sign Akil Thomas

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The Kings have signed their final remaining restricted free agent, announcing they’ve inked forward Akil Thomas to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay the NHL minimum of $775K at the NHL level.

The 23-year-old was a second-round pick by Los Angeles back in 2018 (51st overall) and was a prolific point producer at the OHL level, recording 186 points in just 112 games in his two post-draft seasons.  That helped Thomas earn an entry-level deal back in 2019, one that expired at the end of last month.

However, Thomas spent the entirety of that entry-level pact in the minors with AHL Ontario.  He got off to a nice start last season with the Reign, picking up five goals and three assists in 13 games.  However, in mid-November, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, undergoing surgery soon thereafter.  It’s the second time Thomas has had shoulder trouble; he had double-shoulder surgery back in 2021.

In his career, Thomas has just 93 professional games under his belt with Ontario where he has done relatively well, totaling 24 goals and 23 assists.  He will be waiver-eligible in the fall so he’ll need to pass through unclaimed if he’s to return to the Reign.  But with a little over a year’s worth of cumulative professional experience and coming off another shoulder surgery, it seems like there’s a good chance he’ll be able to do so successfully and will try to show that he’s fully recovered in the fall with Ontario, trying to earn his first NHL recall from there.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Tobias Bjornfot

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The Los Angeles Kings have retained defenseman Tobias Bjornfot for the foreseeable future, as they’ve signed the 22-year-old restricted free agent to a two-year contract extension. The deal, reported by PuckPedia, carries an annual average value of $775K and will keep Bjornfot in the Kings’ lineup through the 2024-25 season.

Selected 22nd overall by the Kings in the 2019 NHL Draft, Bjornfot has fallen a tad behind his predicted development track but still has untapped upside. Hailing from Sweden, he made his professional debut with Djurgardens IF in the SHL during the 2018-19 season, shortly before being drafted by the Kings.

Following his selection, the 6-foot, 201-pound defenseman signed a three-year entry-level contract with Los Angeles just weeks after the draft. He would play in North America immediately, mostly with the AHL’s Ontario Reign, but did earn a three-game NHL audition in his post-draft year. With COVID delaying the start of next season, though, the Kings loaned him back to Djurgarden in August 2020 before returning to Los Angeles after the calendar flipped to 2021, where he’d record his first NHL goal and add five assists in 33 games.

Bjornfot’s transition to the NHL was realized in the 2021-22 season when he became a true full-time player for the Kings, appearing in 70 out of 82 games and tallying eight assists. However, this past season, he found himself reduced to an AHL role due to the emergence of other youngsters like Sean Durzi and the trade deadline addition of Vladislav Gavrikov, which impacted his place on the Kings’ depth chart.

Despite his fluctuating role in the organization last season, Bjornfot’s two-way potential remains highly regarded by the Kings’ management. The two-year extension gives the Kings a much-needed cost-effective player to insert into their lineup, and his league minimum cap hit could result in more NHL ice time with the Kings slated to be tight against the cap’s Upper Limit throughout this season, and Durzi shipped out to the Arizona Coyotes.

Upon the contract’s expiration in 2025, Bjornfot will again become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights and a qualifying offer of $814K.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Tyler Madden To Extension

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The Los Angeles Kings have announced that they’ve signed restricted free agent center Tyler Madden to a one-year two-way contract extension. Madden is fresh off his third season in the AHL with the Ontario Reign after he was drafted in the third round of the 2018 NHL entry draft by the Vancouver Canucks. The two-way deal will see Madden earn $775K at the NHL level and $100K while he is in the AHL.

Madden was the central piece of the trade that sent forward Tyler Toffoli to the Canucks in February of 2020. Prior to that the 23-year-old native of Albany, New York spent two seasons at Northeastern University where he flourished posting 31 goals and 34 assists in 63 career NCAA games.

Since signing his entry-level contract with the Kings, Madden has spent three full seasons in the AHL where he has played 133 career games and scored 35 goals and put up 34 assists. He appeared to be well on his way to an NHL call-up in 2021-22 after he put up 31 points in 48 games but took a major step back this season offensively as he had just 33 points in 71 games. The two-way deal will give Madden an opportunity to continue his development in the AHL as he continues to work his way toward his first taste in the NHL.

At the time of the Toffoli trade, Madden was viewed as being just a few years away from the NHL and while his development has taken longer than expected he remains a terrific skater and a player with excellent vision.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Samuel Fagemo

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Daily Faceoff is reporting that the Los Angeles Kings have signed forward Samuel Fagemo to a one-year two-way contract for the 2023-24 season. The 23-year-old Fagemo was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NHL entry draft by the Kings after spending most of his junior career in his native Sweden. He spent the past three years with the Kings AHL affiliate the Ontario Reign and dressed in nine NHL games this past season where he posted two goals and one assist.

The two-way contract calls for an NHL salary of $775K and an AHL salary of $100K. Fagemo is just a year away from becoming eligible for salary arbitration despite having seen limited NHL action. This past year was the second time Fagemo has been called up to the Kings and although he scored just three points it was a bigger run than his first opportunity where he went scoreless in four games.

His results in the AHL have been a different story as Fagemo has seen a decent amount of offensive success with the Reign. This past season Fagemo put up 23 goals and 9 assists in 56 games as he continued to be more of a goal-scorer than a playmaker. This has been a pattern for Fagemo as he is a natural goal-scorer with excellent wrist and slap shots. While his shooting is a strength, Fagemo hasn’t quite rounded out the other elements of his offensive game yet.  In 151 career AHL games he has 60 goals and 34 assists demonstrating his ability to put the puck in the net and an inability to find teammates with a pass.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Anze Kopitar To Two-Year Contract Extension

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The Los Angeles Kings have signed captain Anze Kopitar to a two-year contract extension carrying a $7MM AAV. As Kopitar already has a contract through the end of next season, this deal will start with the 2024-25 campaign and will cover Kopitar’s age-37 and age-38 seasons.

The deal carries a full no-move clause, and financially Kopitar is set to be paid almost exclusively in signing bonus in year one, and entirely in base salary in year two.

Many viewed the Kings’ acquisition of Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets as succession planning for when Kopitar would no longer take up the mantle as the Kings’ number-one center.

Seeing as fellow era-defining two-way center Patrice Bergeron could be calling it a career at the age of 37, it could reasonably be assumed that Kopitar, set to turn 36 years old in August, would be nearing the end of his storied career as well.

That won’t be the case, though, at least for the next three seasons.

By spending $7MM per year on two seasons of Kopitar in his late thirties, the Kings have placed a significant bet that one of their franchise’s greatest players will remain a great one even as he ages. It’s easy to see why they’ve made that bet, as Kopitar was almost every bit as brilliant at 35 years old as he was in his mid-twenties.

Kopitar scored 28 goals and 74 points in 82 games in 2022-23, and added seven points in the Kings’ six-game first-round series loss to the Edmonton Oilers. As he’s done throughout his career, Kopitar paired that offensive production with exceptional defensive play, playing the most minutes of any Los Angeles forward on the team’s penalty kill.

The two-time Selke Trophy winner might have a few more of those trophies on his resume had he not had the misfortune of playing at the same time as Bergeron, one of the greatest defensive forwards of all time, and Kopitar’s defensive game gives him a high floor in terms of the value he’s providing Los Angeles should his offense start to dry up as he gets older.

With Kopitar locked up through 2025-26 at a below-market rate compared to what he provides, the Kings have secured arguably the best set of four centers in the entire NHL. While he’s a somewhat divisive player, Dubois is certainly a great fit in a second-line center role behind Kopitar.

Having a center like Phillip Danault, who can score 50 points on offense and routinely appear in the top ten of Selke Trophy ballots, in the third-line center role is the kind of stuff coaches dream about. Even their projected fourth-line center, the energetic Blake Lizotte, might be overqualified for that role coming off of a career-best 34-point season.

With this extension, the Kings have bet on Kopitar maintaining his brilliance into his late thirties. If that bet pays off, the Kings will have secured themselves an embarrassment of riches at one of the game’s most important positions, and built the foundation for a team that could very well contend for Stanley Cups once again.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Los Angeles Kings Sign Joe Hicketts

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The Los Angeles Kings have added a depth defenseman, signing Joe Hicketts to a one-year, two-way deal. The Kings have made improving their defensive depth a priority in this early stage of free agency, and Hicketts is the third blueliner the team has added in the past two days, joining Andreas Englund and Steven Santini.

Hicketts is a 27-year-old offensive defenseman who lacks size but has grown into an impactful offensive defenseman at the AHL level. While he last played in the NHL in 2019-20, Hicketts is coming off of his best season at the AHL level. He scored 48 points in 72 games for the Iowa Wild, and also wore a letter on his jersey for the first time in his pro career.

A Calder Cup champion as a rookie, Hicketts will likely play an important role on the Kings’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. He’ll get a chance to quarterback their powerplay and have another strong, productive season that would allow him to push for another NHL call-up.

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