Clague, Amadio, Brodzinski, LaDue, Fantenberg assigned to Ontario

With the LA Kings’ season concluding on Tuesday and the Moose Jaw Warriors falling in a Game 7 on Monday, the club assigned Michael Amadio, Jonny Brodzinski, Paul LaDue and Oscar Fantenberg, and loaned defensive prospect Kale Clague, to the Ontario Reign on Wednesday. Third-seeded Ontario opens up its first round series against the second-seeded Texas Stars Thursday night in Cedar Park, Texas.

Meanwhile, at the conclusion of Dallas’ season, Texas became the proud parents of left wing Remi Elie, defenseman Dillon Heatherington and goalie Mike McKenna, all of whom were assigned by Dallas upon the conclusion of the NHL’s regular season. The Stars also assigned NCAA free agent signee Tony Calderone, who captained the University of Michigan to the Frozen Four and finished with 25 goals in 40 games, after the 23-year-old agreed to terms on a two-year entry-level contract with the club last week. Elie and Heatherington are former second rounders who’ve had some success at the AHL level before making the NHL jump, while McKenna is a 35-year old goalie who has played in the AHL for the better part of the last decade.

Michael Mersch led the Reign with 49 points (21-28=49) in 65 games, while Amadio (1.09 PPG), Brodzinski (1.03) and Matt Moulson (0.94) led the club in points per game, so the Reign, who started 0-6-0 before finishing the year with a 36-25-4-3 record, will be receiving some highly valuable reinforcements themselves. | CLICK HERE FOR FINAL REIGN SCORING

The best-of-five series opens with games Thursday and Friday in Cedar Park before shifting back to the Inland Empire for games Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night. Click here for a full schedule and ticket links.

The winner of the series faces the winner of Pacific Division champion and first-seeded Tucson and fourth-seeded San Jose.

Via Kings and Reign PR:

The 21-year-old Amadio (born May 13, 1996) is a 6-1, 204-pound native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario who appeared in 37 games with the Kings during his first NHL season, posting eight points (4-4=8) and eight penalty minutes. He also played in one playoff game with Los Angeles (first of his career), and tallied an assist (0-1=1). He also skated in 32 games this season for Ontario, recording 35 points (11-24=35), a plus-15 rating and 12 penalty minutes. From Dec. 9 to Jan. 15 he registered a 17-game point streak (9-19=28), the longest in the AHL this season and the second longest AHL point-streak since the 2008-09 season (Paul Carey of Hershey posted a 19-game streak in 2016-17).

The 24-year-old Brodzinski (born June 19, 1993) is a 6-1, 217-pound native of Ham Lake, Minn., who appeared in 35 games this season with the Kings, recording six points (4-2=6), a plus-4 rating and six penalty minutes. He has played in 29 games this season with the Reign, posting 30 points (13-17=30), a plus-9 rating and 18 penalty minutes.

The 26-year-old Fantenberg (born Oct. 7, 1991) is a 6-0, 210-pound native of Ljunby, Sweden, who skated in 27 games this season with the Kings, posting nine points (2-7=9), a plus-2 rating and 11 penalty minutes. He also played in all four postseason games, recording one point (0-1=1) and two penalty minutes. In Game 2 of the first-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights, the blueliner appeared in 41:10 TOI, the most of his career. He registered 13 points (1-12=13), a plus-1 rating and eight penalty minutes in 25 games with Ontario this season.

The 25-year-old LaDue (born Sept. 6, 1992) is a 6-2, 198-pound native of Grand Forks, N.D., who appeared in 12 games this season with the Kings, posting four points (3-1=4), a plus-5 rating and six penalty minutes. He also played in two postseason games (first of his career) and scored his first NHL postseason goal. He skated in 36 games this season with Ontario, registering 18 points (8-10=18), a plus-8 rating and 22 penalty minutes.

Clague, the 19-year-old (born June 5th, 1998) Lloydminster native, just finished his fourth season in the Western Hockey League (WHL), spending three and a half campaigns with the Brandon Wheat Kings, before being dealt to the Moose Jaw Warriors earlier this season. Clague finished fifth amongst defensemen in scoring registering sixty assists and seventy-one points (11-60-71) in 54 games played. Clague joins the Reign upon the Moose Jaw Warriors’ second round playoff exit at the hands of the Swift Current Broncos in seven games.

Clague, originally drafted in the second round (51st overall) of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by Los Angeles, completes his fourth year in the WHL with 195 total games played, 141 assists and 167 points (26-141-167). Clague was a member of Team Canada at the U20 World Juniors Championships in both 2017 and 2018. Canada took home the silver medal in 2017 and gold with their victory over Sweden earlier this year.

-Lead photo via Jacob Snow/Icon Sportswire

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