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Liam Greentree

Kings Assign Liam Greentree To AHL

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The Los Angeles Kings have reassigned top prospect Liam Greentree to the AHL after the end of his OHL season. Greentree ranked third in OHL scoring this season with a dazzling 49 goals and 119 points in 64 games. He also ranked second in playoff scoring with 14 goals and 24 points in 11 games, before his Windsor Spitfires were eliminated by the Kitchener Rangers in a seven-game series.

The Kings drafted Greentree with the 26th overall pick in the 2024 draft. Many pundits expected him to go much earlier, after he scored 36 goals and 90 points in 64 games of his draft season. Greentree was revered for his ability to control possession and tempo through the neutral zone, boosted by a strong drive towards the net and a physical six-foot-two frame. Those attributes shined even brighter this season, after Greentree was paired with star Washington Capitals prospect Ilya Protas at center.

Protas’ ability to spark plays up the ice and crash into the low-slot complimented Greentree beautifully, and actually led to the former earning five more points than his winger this season. The two were inseparable for much of the year – and the experience with a burly, puck-hogging center could be a nice setup as Greentree sets his sights on a lineup already featuring Quinton Byfield.

For now, Greentree will look to carry his tremendous scoring into the pro flight. He will join the Ontario Reign ahead of their first games of the Calder Cup Playoff matchup against the San Jose Barracuda this weekend. The turnaround might be too quick for Greentree to play his pro debut on Saturday, though it’ll be tough to not consider the star scorer in what could be a must-win game on Monday.

Snapshots: Hurricanes, Askarov, Soderblom, Greentree, Francis

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It appears that the Hurricanes will get some help on the injury front as they begin a three-game road trip on Thursday in San Jose.  Team reporter Walt Ruff mentions (Twitter link) that defenseman Dmitry Orlov should be ready to return after missing the last two weeks with an upper-body injury.  The 33-year-old has four goals and 20 assists in 62 games this season while logging a little under 20 minutes a night.

Meanwhile, the news isn’t as good for winger Andrei Svechnikov.  Ruff added that it wasn’t initially known if the 24-year-old would be accompanying the team on the trip.  Last week, the hope was that Svechnikov would be back for the Hurricanes sometime this week but that appears to be more in question now.  He has 18 goals and 25 assists in 63 outings this season.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov is hoping to be cleared to skate with the AHL’s Barracuda next week as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, relays Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has a 3.10 GAA and a .896 SV% in 13 games with the Sharks this season and is likely to be recalled at some point down the stretch to get a few more games in with the big club.
  • It has been a rough go as of late for Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom. He has won just one of his last ten games while posting a SV% of just .881, 20 points below his mark for the season at .901.  Despite that, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that at the moment, the team is still operating under the plan that he’ll serve as Spencer Knight’s backup for next season.  Soderblom will be owed a $1MM qualifying offer this summer with salary arbitration rights and with 82 NHL games now under his belt, it’s possible that Chicago could feel the risk of a hearing is too great.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to work on getting him signed before the tender deadline in June.
  • Kings prospect Liam Greentree was suspended for two games today by the OHL for a checking from behind incident on Sunday, the league announced (Twitter link). The 19-year-old was the 26th pick last June and sits tied for second in the league in points (with 119) while being fourth in goals (49) and second in assists (70).  Windsor only has two games remaining in the regular season so he won’t be able to move up those leaderboards even further.
  • Ducks prospect Will Francis will join AHL San Diego for their stretch run, reports Matt Wellens of the Duluth News-Tribune. The 24-year-old blueliner was a sixth-round pick back in 2019, going 163rd overall.  Francis is a three-time cancer survivor, missing time in three of his four collegiate campaigns at the University of Minnesota-Duluth due to the illness, limiting him to just 39 games overall, five of which came this season.

Kings Sign Liam Greentree

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11:58 AM: The Kings have officially confirmed Greentree’s signing and the $975K AAV.

8:55 AM: The Kings have agreed to terms with their top selection in last month’s draft as PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed Liam Greentree to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The deal pays $877.5K per year in salary with a $97.5K signing bonus for each season for a $975K cap hit.

[Related: 2024 NHL Draft Signing Tracker]

The winger was selected by Los Angeles with the 26th pick after the Kings opted to trade down five spots earlier in the day.  Greentree had a very strong sophomore year with OHL Windsor, doubling his output from his rookie season.  All told, he finished up with 36 goals and 54 assists in 64 games before collecting four more points at the World Under-18s.  That resulted in many of his draft rankings slotting between the middle of the first round and the end of it.

While Greentree will likely get at least a brief look at training camp in the fall, it’s highly likely that he’ll return to the Spitfires next season.  Assuming that happens and that he doesn’t get into ten or more NHL games before that time, Greentree’s contract will slide a year and still have three years left on it next summer.

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