Development Camp Day 3 Recap – Talking 2023 Draft Class + Scrimmage Notes

“I was real excited about the way the game went today. I thought, the power play and penalty kill, you get to see guys handle a little bit more, so it was a really good day and I was excited to see that to that.”

That was Mike Donnelly of the Kings Player Development team commenting on the scrimmage session on Day 3.

Yesterday, Jarret Stoll was a bit disappointed with the lack of a shooting mentality. Felt like that changed today for sure, as the pace increased, the physicality increased and the shooting and scoring went up accordingly.

The scrimmage portion of Day 3 began with more controlled drills. This time we saw a multitude of drills involving rush plays – 1-on-1’s. 2-on-1’s and 3-on-2’s mainly. The highlight from this portion was a beautiful net-front tip by Jared Wright. The deflection for Wright was just the start of a noticeable day for the Denver Pioneer, who was one of several who stood out.

Intensity and physicality looked to be improved compared to the previous days, something Donnelly alluded to.

“It’s hockey and it’s a game, you like to see kids that have emotion and a little battle, that part of it is always good to see,” Donnelly said. “Even though it’s a teaching environment and we do a lot of specialty training, you still want to see the compete, you want to see the battle and I thought you saw it today.”

The next portion of the session provided our first opportunity to see special teams play. Impressive puck movement led to great plays by Martin Chromiak setting up Kenny Connors as well as stand out plays by Alex Laferriere, Francesco Pinelli and Kasper Simontaival, all leading to goals offensively.

Day 3 finished with 4-on-4 play. Laferriere had the goal of the day in the afternoon session with a snipe high glove from the faceoff dots. More big hits followed as Angus Booth, Hunter Mayo, Martin Chromiak and Cole Krygier all successfully played the body in the latter stages of the scrimmage.

Moving towards the individuals here at camp, today we take a look at some of the 2023 draft picks. Tomorrow, we’ll focus in on second-round selection Jakub Dvorak, but looking today at the other three picks who have skated so far this week.

As reported on Thursday, defenseman Matthew Mania is not skating this week due to an upper-body injury.

Of those who are skating, we’ve got both ends of the ice covered today, focusing in on forwards Koehn Ziemmer and Ryan Conmy, as well as netminder Hampton Slukynsky. Joining the Kings community just nine days prior at the draft, Ziemmer, Conmy and Slukynsky have had an eventful past week and change. From hearing their respective names called by the Kings at the draft, traveling to Los Angeles, to now the business part of the trip – development camp.

Beginning with the draft, there’s always a variety of how Day 2 draft picks spend their days. Some attend the draft, some stay home, some pay little attention. Some have an idea as to who will select them, some have no idea whatsoever. No matter how it’s spent, when their name is eventually heard, it becomes a day they’ll never forget. These three 2023 selections are a great example of that.

Speaking first with Koehn Ziemmer, the Kings third-round selection, he attended the draft in Nashville with those close to him.

“It was a really cool experience for sure,” Ziemmer said yesterday. “I think being able to spend the draft with my family and a couple of close friends was really memorable. It’s a pretty cool place to have a draft as well and to hear your name called by such a great organization is a dream come true.”

Conversely, the Kings sixth-round selection, Ryan Conmy, was far from Nashville when his named was called by the Kings with the 182nd overall pick.

“I was in my college dorm room [at the University of New Hampshire], I was up there taking a class and training, so I was sitting on my bed and was just so excited to hear the news I’d been selected by the Kings,” he said. “I’m taking first-year writing for English class, it’ll be nice to get that one out of the way and hearing my name called by the Kings was a lot more fun than the assignment in first-year writing.”

Both Ziemmer and Conmy are coming off of outstanding seasons in their respective leagues. Ziemmer ranked seventh in the WHL in goals (41) and ninth in points (89) with the Prince George Cougars, while Conmy was named to the USHL All-Rookie First Team and earned All-USHL Third Team honors after a 62-point (33-29-62) season in 60 games for the Sioux City Musketeers.

Both prospects are looking forward now and soaking up as much as they can in camp.

Ziemmer On Camp – I think the first day was just kind of get your feet wet. Getting back on the ice and it’s getting easier as the days go on. So yeah, it’s really exciting to be here. I think it’s it’s an honor to be here and just just to see what it’s like to be in an organization of this statute.

Conmy On Camp – Camp has been awesome, I’ve never been out here so I’m kind of seeing everything here. Everyone in the organization has been a blast so far. Competing with the guys, everyone’s got a lot to compete for and it’s been exciting……the staff has been awesome, the have everything here that you could possibly need. Whatever it is, they got it.

As this is a time for learning for the camp goers, many lessons can be taken away for the Kings’ prospects.

“This has been a really good challenge, so I’m excited to get the next couple days on the on the ice and go as the staff has really helped guide us with development and professionalism,” Conmy explained. The Kings development staff have been focusing on both the concepts of Kings hockey that the organization has deemed important and individual traits that the players need to work on.”

There’s a desire to learn from these players and they’ve taken to the guidance provided to them by the player development team in LA.

“It’s a little bit of both, you know, development guidance from Jarret [Stoll] and Mike [Donnelly], both are helping us pretty intensely,” Ziemmer added. “They let you know what to change or what you need to do to improve, but I think we have to take it upon ourselves with that information to get better on as well,” Ziemmer explained. For Ziemmer, he’s locked in on what he needs to do to become the player he wants to be. “I know my skating has always been my weakness in my game so I think that’s one thing I’ve been really working on this summer.”

On the other end of the ice, we move to a Kings prospect that isn’t graded so much on his skating. Minnesota-born netminder Hampton Slukynsky was drafted by the Kings last week with the 118th pick, a fourth-round selection, and he’s coming off of an near-perfect season statistically. Slukynsky played for Warroad High School, a city of 1,820 residents on the border of Canada and the home of NHL’ers TJ Oshie and Brock Nelson. In his senior year of high school, Slukynsky went 29-0-1 with a 1.47 GAA and a .941 SV% and his only loss came in double overtime of the Minnesota “A” State High School Hockey Championship. Slukynsky’s outstanding performance across the season earned the Frank Brimsack Award, the state’s annual award given to the best goalie.

Fast forward to draft day and Slukynsky wasn’t sure where he’d land but did know the Kings were a legitimate option.

“I talked to them prior to the draft, probably mid-season in January, a couple scouts were interested in hearing from my advisor and people around me,” he said. “So, I knew they were one of the teams I could definitely go to. I was definitely really happy, which obviously is a good feeling. It’s great to be here.”

Like Ziemmer and Conmy, Slukynsky has been nothing but complimentary of the personalities surrounding him, providing a great experience to learn and grow as a hockey player and person.

“There are a lot of great people here in general, but especially our players and staff,” he said. “It’s a lot of different cultures coming together which has built and amazing culture in the organization. So I’m just soaking up everything they teach us and then applying it to my game. It’s all about the help with the little details. So definitely just taking all the knowledge in.”

Slukynsky will be heading to the USHL next season to play for the Fargo Force, who are coming off of a season with the league’s top record of 40-14-8 regular season and a Clark Cup Final defeat. Slukynsky is a gamer and credits his part of success so far to his compete level.

“I’m going to continue to work hard on my game, do my best in Fargo and go to college [currently committed to the University of Northern Michigan]. When you get an opportunity at this level, you just have to continue to put the in the work.”