Kings prospects Lee, Hrenak, Helenius, Nousiainen join Ontario Reign

Insiders, some news from yesterday evening, which came out right before the Kings hosted Seattle.

The LA Kings have signed goaltender David Hrenak (one year, $842,500 AAV) and forward Andre Lee (two years, $883,750 AAV) to entry-level contracts. They will join the Ontario Reign (AHL) on an ATO for the remainder of this season and their contracts will go into effect for the 2022-23 season. Additionally, forward Samuel Helenius has been reassigned to Ontario from JYP (Liiga) and defenseman Kim Nousiainen has signed an ATO and will report to the Reign.

Andre Lee

Lee, 21, recently completed his junior season at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. The 6-5, 210-pound forward set career-highs in goals, points, plus/minus and games played this season, while tying his career high in assists by putting up 28 points (16-12=28) with a plus-12 rating in 34 games.

Selected in the seventh-round (188th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft, Lee appeared in 87 games during his three-year NCAA career, posting 64 points (31-33=64) and a plus-26 rating. He helped the RiverHawks to their first NCAA Tournament since 2017 this season and was named to the Hockey East Third All-Star Team.

Prior to joining UMass-Lowell, the Karlstad, Sweden native played for one season with the Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL), where he posted 35 points (20-15=35) in his first season in North America. He and the Stampede won the Clark Cup that season.

Lee on being selected by the LA Kings
My dream since my whole life has been to play in the NHL and I’m very fortunate to be here with the LA Kings it’s a great organization and there are a lot of Swedes here so we’ll see what happens.

David Hrenak

Hrenak, 23, recently completed his senior season at St. Cloud State University (NCAA), posting a 16-11-4 record, 2.26 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and one shutout in 31 games. Over four seasons with the Huskies, he appeared in 146 games, registering a 82-44-14 record, 2.40 goals-against average, .910 save percentage and 12 shutouts. He leaves St. Cloud as the all-time goaltending leader in games played, wins and shutouts.

Selected in the fifth-round (144th overall) by the Kings in the 2018 NHL Draft, he was recognized with multiple awards during his time with the Huskies. During the 2017-18 season, he was an honorable mention for the All-NCHC Team, on the All-NCHC Rookie Team and the All-NCHC Academic Team. In 2018-19 and 2019-20 he made the All-NCHC Second Team each season.

The Povazska Bystrica, Slovakia native has represented Slovakia on multiple occasions. The 6-2, 195-pound netminder has represented Slovakia in four major tournaments. He has appeared in two games over those four tournaments, competing in the IIHF World Junior Championship (2016 & 2018) and the IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship (2015 & 2016).

Kim Nousiainen

Nousiainen, 21, has played the last three seasons with KalPa (Liiga), most recently being named an assistant captain during the 2021-22 season and posting 14 points (4-10=14) in 35 games. The 5-9, 170-pound defenseman played a total of 146 games with KalPa, recording 60 points (19-41=60) and a plus-4 rating.

Prior to his time with KalPa, the 2019 fourth-round (119th overall) selection of the Kings spent two seasons with KalPa U20 (U20 SM-liiga) posting 63 points (12-51=63) and a plus-23 rating in 88 games. His time with the U20 team was highlighted with a Spengler Cup championship and being named to the Spengler Cup All-Star Team during the 2018-19 season.

A native of Kuopio, Finland, Nousiainen has represented his home country in multiple international events. Most recently he helped them to a silver medal during the 2021 IIHF World Championship, posting two points (1-1=2) and a plus-1 rating in eight games. He was also on the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship team, where he posted four points (1-3=4) and a plus-2 rating in seven games. His first IIHF international experience came during the 2018 World U18 Men’s World Championship where he won a gold medal with Finland, scoring a goal (1-0=1) in seven games that year.

Kings Scout Christian Ruuttu on Nousiainen
Kim actually, he was at the Berlin camp with us, so our development people – O’C, Muzz, Sean and all those, they worked with him. We tested him, we watched him play, and we all fell in love with him. Kim is a little bit like Kimmo Timonen. That’s pretty much what he could say, and he’s from the same team. [Reporter: Is he a Kuopio kid, too?] He’s a Kuopio kid, and my son plays on that team, too, so we know him pretty much inside-out.

Samuel Helenius

Helenius, 19, joins the Reign after spending the last two seasons with JYP (Liiga). An assistant captain for JYP this past season, the 6-6, 200-pound forward registered nine points (3-6-9) in 48 games and over his two seasons with JYP totaled 23 points (10-13=23) in 102 appearances.

Prior to his time with JYP, the 2021 second-round (59th overall) selection of the Kings spent a season with Jokerit U20 (U20 SM-Liiga), posting 24 points (13-11=24) in 51 games during the 2019-20 season. He signed his entry-level contract with the Kings on August 13, 2021.

A native of Jarvenpaa, Finland, Helenius has represented his home country in each of the last two IIHF World Junior Championship tournaments. In 2021, he helped Finland earn a bronze medal after registering four points (2-2=4) and a plus-2 rating in seven games. During the 2022 tournament, he registered four points (3-1=4) in two games before the event was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament is expected to restart again in August.

Kings Director of Scouting Mark Yannetti
This kid is already an NHL skater, and he hasn’t even come close to growing into his body. When his body catches up to his feet, we look at him being an above-average NHL skater and he’s six-foot-six. He plays a hard, heavy game. He leads with compete and physicality to go along with his skating. If you watched at the World Juniors, while offense is certainly not the primary aspect of his game, he possesses a really good shot. When you start looking at the third line, in terms of creating offense, you usually see a little bit more individualistic…you see more direct plays going in the net. A kid like this, who can get to those areas and use his size and his shot to provide secondary offense, that kind of fills in the way we view a middle-six in terms of trying to find offense there.