LA Kings announce roster moves, trim training camp roster to 34 players

Roster moves, Insiders!

The LA Kings have announced several transactions this morning, as they’ve trimmed their training camp roster down to 34 players.

The Kings have assigned the following players to the AHL’s Ontario Reign –

Forwards: Martin Chromiak, Aidan Dudas, Samuel Helenius, Tyler Madden, Akil Thomas, T.J. Tynan, Austin Wagner, Taylor Ward
Defensemen: Frederic Allard, Tobie Bisson, Helge Grans, Kim Nousiainen
Goaltenders: David Hrenak, Matthew Villalta

No surprises necessarily in this group, with most of these players either on entry-level contracts or individuals who had already cleared waivers over the last week. Tynan was the last of the bunch to clear waivers, which came earlier on today. While a few names, including Tynan, came in with a shot at the NHL roster coming into training camp, for the most part this group consists of players who were slotted for Ontario to start the season, with a few names showing the potential to earn a callup during the season with a strong showing at the AHL level.

Additionally, the Kings have released the following players from their training camp tryouts –

Cameron Gaunce, Tyler Inamoto, Brett Kemp, Justin Nachbaur, Cameron Supryka, Nate Thompson, Alan Quine

Of this group, five of the seven players released here are on AHL contracts with Ontario – Gaunce, Inamoto, Kemp, Nachbaur and Quine. When the Ontario Reign submit their official training camp roster, we’ll get further clarity on Thompson and Supryka, who are both eligible to sign a contract or a try out with the club.

There’s also the status of players such as Alex Turcotte and Andre Lee, who are still on the Kings camp roster but are currently injured. Players who are injured are not able to be assigned to Ontario until they are fully healthy, therefore players in that boat will continue with their rehab process while technically on the Kings roster, with the option to assign those players to the AHL when healthy. Same situation we saw last season with Akil Thomas, who was recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and didn’t join the Reign for a game until early-December.

Where that leaves the Kings is with 20 forwards, 10 defensemen and four goaltenders as of this writing.

Forwards (20) – Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Lias Andersson, Viktor Arvidsson, Quinton Byfield, Phillip Danault, Jacob Doty, Samuel Fagemo, Kevin Fiala, Carl Grundstrom, Alex Iafallo, Arthur Kaliyev, Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, Rasmus Kupari, Andre Lee, Brendan Lemieux, Blake Lizotte, Trevor Moore, Alex Turcotte, Gabe Vilardi
Defensemen (10) – Mikey Anderson, Tobias Bjornfot, Brandt Clarke, Drew Doughty, Sean Durzi, Alex Edler, Jacob Moverare, Matt Roy, Jordan Spence, Sean Walker
Goaltenders (4) – Pheonix Copley, Jacob Ingham, Cal Petersen and Jonathan Quick

As Todd McLellan said the other day, when evaluating where we’re at here in terms of a final roster, we’re really talking about five or so lines of forwards, 10 defensemen and 2-3 goaltenders at this stage. That’s likely the group we’ll see over the next three games and those are the names we’ll be talking about as we approach a final roster cutdown to 23 active players.

As we see these final three preseason games play out, we’re now picking individuals from a group that basically boils down to that alignment.

“I think we’re working right now with five lines, ten defensemen and 2-3 goaltenders,” McLellan said yesterday. “It’s whether you have your complete lineup or whether you have excess pieces, but in my mind, the guys that are left are pretty much veterans now. It’s how it we’ll use them, how we roll them out and I think this week you’ll see teams – maybe a little different when we go to Utah just with the travel, the day-of flying in, flying all the way back – but for the other games, we’re just picking from that group.”

Kings were on the ice at 10:30 for morning skate here in El Segundo, before the game group heads to Anaheim. More to follow with a game preview in a few hours time!