Kings Development Camp To Run July 6 – 10, Coaching Staff Announced

The LA Kings announced today the first details around Development Camp 2023, with the dates and schedule for the five-day event.

The first day of development camp will be held on Wednesday, July 6 at Toyota Sports Performance Center. Development camp will run for five days, with sessions to follow on each day through Monday, July 10, culminating with a scrimmage at 9 AM on 7/10. Development camp structure has varied from season-to-season and we’ve seen a bunch of different approaches over the years. Last season, the first three days saw the group run position-centric sessions in the morning, followed by a break, and then a scrimmage in the afternoon. Day 4 had the morning sessions only, followed by a team activity in the afternoon, while Day 5 was a morning scrimmage only. The full schedule for this season’s camp will be announced closer to the 6th.

In my time with the organization, those elements have all been in place in one way or another, though the overall structure has changed a bit over the years. Assuming, however, we’ll see the same basic elements in one form or another throughout the course of development camp. Along with the details on the structure and format of this season’s camp, a camp roster will also come following the 2023 NHL Draft. Typically speaking, the bulk of the team’s drafted players will be attending development camp and we obviously don’t know who those players will be until they are in fact selected by the Kings. With the gap between the draft and camp this season, as opposed to just a day or two as it’s been in years past, it only increases the possibility of having the full draft class in attendance.

LA Kings Director, Player Personnel Glen Murray has typically been the leader of development camp in the past, supported by the Kings development staff. Mike Donnelly, Matt Greene, Sean O’Donnell, Jarret Stoll, Jeremy Clark and Adam Brown of the player development staff will be a part of this season’s coaching staff, supported by a variety of additional development coaches both from within the organization and externally. This season’s coaching staff will once again be headlined by those individuals, and joining the camp staff will be Manon Rheaume, hockey operations and prospects adviser for the LA Kings, along with guest coaches Tommi Niemela (Lahti Pelicans), Stephane Richer (Eisbaren Berlin), Andre Rankel (Eisbaren Berlin) and Tom Kanzock (Eisbaren Berlin).

The list of guest coaches is always interesting to hear, especially when there’s a European flair to the staff. Different voices is never a bad thing for younger players to have and while the primary messaging will always come from the Kings staff first, there’s always room for external perspectives to help in the development process. Having coaches from Finland and Germany, along with Rheaume, join the ice presents a wide-array of options for the group of younger players to work with and learn from.

More to follow, both regarding the 2023 Draft and development camp, in the coming days/weeks.