Kings Name Marco Sturm Head Coach Of Ontario Reign
While not quite on the same level, the Los Angeles Kings have decided to join in on this week’s coaching announcement fun. The team has appointed Marco Sturm as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.
Sturm has been a member of the Kings organization since 2018-19, serving as an assistant coach in that timeframe. The NHL veteran of 14 seasons and 938 games got into coaching just two years after his playing career ended in 2013, joining the German national team as a head coach and manager in various capacities. Sturm coached the Germans to an upset silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
While a good portion of the Kings’ stacked prospect pool has now graduated to NHL ice, there are still some important names slated to play next season in Ontario. Sturm will be in charge of managing the development of forward prospects like Akil Thomas, Alex Turcotte, Samuel Fagemo, and Tyler Madden. Defenseman Jordan Spence could also re-join the Reign after seeing a lot of NHL action at the end of 2021-22 due to injuries.
With Sturm’s emerging track record of success, it’s hard to imagine he’ll be in Ontario for too long before getting calls for NHL head coaching vacancies.
Hockey Canada Names Men’s U20, U18 Team Selection Camp Rosters
As the 2022 event cycle begins to come to a close, aside from the postponed 2022 World Juniors set to take place in August, national team organizations begin to look to the 2023 calendar. Today, Hockey Canada named their rosters for the National Men’s Junior Team summer development camp, as well as the National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team selection camp.
The National Men’s Junior Team roster is comprised of talent from the 2021 NHL Draft, as well as the upcoming 2022 and 2023 NHL Drafts. Among the top NHL-affiliated talent attending the camp is Chicago Blackhawks D Nolan Allan, Columbus Blue Jackets D Corson Ceulemans, Dallas Stars F Wyatt Johnston, Los Angeles Kings D Brandt Clarke, Nashville Predators F Zachary L’Heureux, New Jersey Devils F Chase Stillman, New York Rangers F Brennan Othmann, St. Louis Blues F Zachary Bolduc, and Vegas Golden Knights F Zach Dean. Clarke was notably snubbed from the 2022 World Juniors roster.
In terms of 2022 eligibles to watch at selection camp, the list is as follows: F Luca Del Bel Belluz, F Jagger Firkus, F Nathan Gaucher, F Conor Geekie, F Ryan Greene, F Tucker Robertson, F Matthew Savoie, F Reid Schaefer, D Kevin Korchinski, D Christian Kyrou, D Tristan Luneau, D Denton Mateychuk, D Owen Pickering, G Tyler Brennan, G Chase Coward, and G Thomas Milic. Forwards Nate Danielson and Adam Fantilli also made the camp roster as 2023 eligible. Really, the only 2022 top-ten lock from that list is Savoie, but Geekie, Korchinski, and Mateychuk are also names that could work their way into the first selections.
The U18 roster is made up of 2023 and 2024 eligible players, and it’s highlighted by a trio of 2023 forwards: Zachary Benson, Matthew Wood, and Brayden Yager.
Los Angeles Kings Extend Jacob Moverare
The Los Angeles Kings announced today that they have signed defenseman Jacob Moverare to a two-year contract extension that will run through the 2023-24 season. The deal is worth $1.525MM, carrying a $762.5K AAV, and will leave Moverare a RFA at its conclusion. The extension gives the young defenseman a chance to become a regular in the Kings lineup over the next two seasons after impressing in his NHL debut in 2021-22. In 19 career NHL games, Moverare tallied just two assists, but played quality defensive hockey on the backend.
Moverare was a fourth-round pick for the Kings back in 2016 coming out of the HV-71 program in his native Sweden, where he played two seasons at the junior level, making his SHL debut in his draft season for HV-71. After being drafted, the defenseman made the interesting choice to come to North America and play for the Mississauga Steelheads of the OHL, registering 53 points in 95 games for a pair of competitive Mississauga teams, serving as an assistant captain in his second season. Prior to 2018-19, Moverare would head back to Sweden, playing two seasons with Frolunda before spending part of 2020-21 with SaiPa Lappeenranta in the Finnish Liga. Moverare then returned to North America, debuting for the Ontario Reign of the AHL last season and again this season, where he of course also made his NHL debut.
With the extension, the Kings buy themselves two years at a favorable cost of a young defenseman who should push for regular ice-time on the up-and-coming club. For the player, he will have the opportunity to prove he can be a reliable contributor and a building block in a young and talented Los Angeles defense group that includes the likes of Michael Anderson, Sean Durzi, Tobias Bjornfot, and Jordan Spence, not to mention incumbent star and former Norris Trophy winner Drew Doughty.
Los Angeles Kings Extend T.J. Tynan
The Los Angeles Kings announced this morning that the team signed forward T.J. Tynan to a two-year contract extension worth $1.575MM ($787,500 per season), expiring in 2023-24. According to PuckPedia, Tynan will make $800,000 in NHL salary in 2022-23, along with a $500,000 minors salary and $525,000 in guaranteed salary. In 2023-24, the contract is a one-way deal earning him $775,000.
Now 30 years old, Tynan is one of the best definitions of a “tweener” — a player who excels at the minor-league level but can’t put sustained success together in the NHL. To say Tynan excels at the AHL level would be an understatement — he’s a one-time Calder Cup champion with the Lake Erie Monsters (2016) and the back-to-back AHL MVP. He was second in the entire league in scoring this season, scoring 14 goals, and leading the league with 84 assists for 98 points in 62 games. With all that success, though, Tynan has just one assist in 21 career NHL games.
He’ll stay around in the Kings organization, though, helping the team develop their prospects through their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. Tynan is a good role model for young players offensively, as he plays a smart, versatile game that allows him to succeed as a playmaker and a penalty killer.
Appearing at the World Championships this year for the United States, Tynan managed a strong five assists in six games.
Latest On Adrian Kempe
There are some players who make solid, reasonable improvements in platform years before they need new contracts. Then there are players like Adrian Kempe. In the final year of his $2MM AAV bridge contract, Kempe smashed his career highs in offensive production. Kempe led the Kings with 35 goals and added on 19 assists, finishing with 54 points which was good for second on the team behind linemate Anze Kopitar. Kempe showed that the improved offensive form he flashed in 2020-21, when he had 14 goals and 29 points in 56 games (20-goal, 42-point pace) was not a fluke. Before that point, Kempe had been typically seen as someone capable of scoring around 15 goals and 30 points a season, so his 35-goal outburst was extremely impressive.
It also has likely made him quite a bit of money. Kempe is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent and is close to unrestricted free agency. Kempe has communicated a desire to stay in Los Angeles, saying definitively in his post-season press conference that he would like to sign a long-term deal with the Kings. The conflict, then, comes in terms of finding exactly what that long-term deal will look like. The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman reports (subscription link) that the Kings and Kempe’s representation have had “early discussions” but “nothing substantial” in the way of negotiations on a new Kempe contract. As a newly-minted 35-goal-scorer, Kempe’s deal could now cost over $5MM per year, and Dillman pointed to St. Louis Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich and his five-year, $5.8MM contract as a comparable for Kempe. There is always the risk that paying based off of Kempe’s one breakout year burns the Kings if Kempe reverts back to his prior production, but on the flip side there’s also the risk that another year of strong production drives Kempe’s price up even more. With the Kings eager to improve upon a season where they made the playoffs for the first time under coach Todd McLellan, getting Kempe locked into a long-term deal should be a priority for this summer.
Snapshots: Point, Mock Draft, Kassian
As the Stanley Cup Final is set to commence in two days, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche will retake the ice today to practice ahead of their last four to seven games of the season. Of note from Tampa’s side of things is that injured star center Brayden Point continued to take part in practice today and took line rushes for the first time, centering a line between Nick Paul and Ross Colton, per The Athletic’s Joe Smith. However, assistant coach Jeff Halpern said after practice that “he didn’t know if you could read too much” into Point’s status, noting that it was a light session.
Tampa will be waiting anxiously to get an answer on when Point can return. Given the uncertain health of Nazem Kadri on the other side for Colorado, Tampa Bay having their full center depth available to them would give them a much greater chance at winning their third straight Stanley Cup.
- With the 2022 NHL Draft now within a month, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, one of the top public prospect evaluators, released his 2022 NHL Mock Draft, taking team needs, consensus, and intel into account aside from just his own rankings. Although more and more doubt remains around the status of Kingston Frontenacs center Shane Wright as the Montreal Canadiens’ no. 1 overall pick, Wheeler still has Wright listed in the first spot. Rounding out the top five is winger Juraj Slafkovsky to the New Jersey Devils, center Logan Cooley to the Arizona Coyotes, defenseman Simon Nemec going first off the board among d-men to the Seattle Kraken, and defenseman David Jiricek headed to the Philadelphia Flyers.
- The first buyout window of the offseason opens July 1, and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli has Edmonton Oilers winger Zack Kassian at the top of his list of 10 buyout candidates for this summer. Kassian, who carries a cap hit of $3.2MM through 2024, mustered just 19 points in 58 games this season and averaged under nine minutes per game in the playoffs. With the 31-year-old forward only set to continue declining, Edmonton could take the buyout penalty to free up more space to improve their depth scoring. The buyout for Kassian is relatively benign, per CapFriendly, with a cap hit of $666,667 in 2022-23, $1,866,667 in 2023-24, and $966,667 in 2024-25 and 2025-26. It offers $2.5MM in savings upfront in 2022-23, an appealing number for general manager Ken Holland.
Could Jonathan Quick Be A Trade Candidate This Summer?
- As we get close to the annual goaltending carousel around the NHL, Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic suggests (subscription link) that Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick should be garnering some attention as a possible candidate to move. After reclaiming the starting role this season, the 36-year-old helped lead Los Angeles back to the playoffs. Quick is down to just one year left on his contract so for a team that’s looking for a short-term addition to try to stabilize the situation between the pipes, he could be a viable option.
Former Kings Defenseman Larry Hillman Passes Away
After leaving Toronto, Hillman would bounce around for five seasons, spending time with the Minnesota North Stars, Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, and Buffalo Sabres. Prior to the 1973-74 season, a 36-year-old Hillman would depart the NHL for the rival WHA, where he spent three seasons, the first two with the Cleveland Crusaders, and finally with the Winnipeg Jets, then of the WHA. All told, Hillman played 789 games in the NHL over 19 seasons, tallying 36 goals and 196 assists along with 565 penalty minutes. Hillman also had a brief coaching career, spending two seasons as the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, compiling a record of 78 wins, 55 losses and eight ties in two seasons behind the bench for the Jets, still of the WHA.
Anze Kopitar Wins 2022 Mark Messier Leadership Award
Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar is the recipient of the 2022 Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. Per the league, the trophy is awarded “to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice during the regular season.”
The team had the following to say with Kopitar’s victory:
As a spokesperson and contributor in several team fundraising events, Kopitar strives to represent the organization at every opportunity, including local institutions such as the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Make a Wish Foundation, Wags and Walks and Kings Care Foundation. Kopitar also hosts a hockey academy yearly in his native Slovenia, which serves aspiring youth players who may not have access to similar programs. Typically attracting nearly 200 players per year, the academy has drawn players from more than 15 countries.
The winner of the award is chosen by Messier himself, and he announced the selection live during ESPN’s broadcast of Game 1 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Final.
Given out since the 2006-07 season, Kopitar becomes the second King to win this award. Former Kings captain and fresh retiree Dustin Brown won the trophy back in 2014 after guiding the Kings to their second Stanley Cup in three seasons. The Slovenian veteran forward has worn a letter on his jersey for Los Angeles since 2008 and has been the captain since replacing Brown in 2016. With two Stanley Cups under his belt, Kopitar’s 1,210 games are second in Kings history. He’s also just one of four players to register at least 1,000 points as a King.
The 34-year-old remains under contract with the Kings until 2024.
Kings’ Sean Durzi Undergoes Shoulder Surgery
Following a breakout rookie campaign, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Sean Durzi went under the knife today. The team reports that Durzi required shoulder surgery following the Kings’ playoff exit. Despite the delayed start to his offseason, Durzi is expected to be fully recovered in time for the start of the 2022-23 season.
Durzi, 23, led all of L.A.’s numerous rookies in scoring this season with 27 points in 64 games. Most of that scoring came via assists, but half of Durzi’s 24 helpers were primary assists, which was second-best among Kings’ defensemen and sixth on the team. Durzi didn’t forget about defense either; he led the team in blocked shots and led all defensemen in takeaways – and that was despite playing in only 64 games. Durzi’s stellar two-way play led to a gradual increase in responsibility that resulted in near 20 minutes of average ice time per night. Though he may not have received the same accolades as rookies across the league or even as some of the other young players in L.A., Durzi is coming off a terrific season.
The key now is making sure that he rehabs and heals correctly and is at full strength for a follow-up performance next season. Durzi joins Drew Doughty and Sean Walker as Kings defenders returning from injury and there will definitely be a power grab on the Kings’ blue line. Doughty, Walker, and Matt Roy will be returning veterans, while Durzi and Michael Anderson will be the standout youngsters and will also bring new contracts as restricted free agents this summer. Tobias Bjornfot, Jordan Spence, and Jacob Moverare will be budding young pros in the mix in L.A. as well. However, a healthy Durzi replicating his success from this season is a shoo-in for a top-four role despite the competition.