Reign sign forward Jacob Doty to one-year AHL contract extension for 2024-25

The Ontario Reign announced its first AHL contract for the 2024-25 season Tuesday, signing veteran forward Jacob Doty to a one-year deal.

Instant Analysis
Doty continues to be the team’s longest-tenured player, officially returning to the Reign for his sixth season with the club and the 10th of his professional career. While the physical winger’s best attribute is his toughness, whether shown during the run of play or by dropping the gloves, he has certainly made strides in other areas over the past few years.

The 30-year-old missed most of the 2022-23 year with an injury that came just nine games into the campaign. But he came back healthy and stronger this season, beginning with an invite to LA Kings training camp that included an opportunity to join the team in Australia for the Global Series in September.

That got him started off on the right foot, and the Billings, Mont. native had five points in his first 11 appearances with Ontario over the first month of the regular season. He began on a line with Taylor Ward and Samuel Helenius that had good chemistry, and eventually saw rotations to include Nikita Pavlychev, Ryan Francis, Francesco Pinelli and Andre Lee. With each of these iterations, the fourth line achieved positive results and was a staple of the Reign’s success throughout the year.

Although Doty was unable to sustain the offensive success he had early on, he still finished with AHL career-highs in goals (7) and points (10), as well as shots on goal (42) and game-winning goals (3).

In the postseason, the physical style of Doty and his line with Pavlychev and Hayden Hodgson helped Ontario advance to the Pacific Division Finals for the first time since their inaugural AHL season in 2015-16.

Bringing Doty’s physical presence back for another season was clearly a high priority for the Reign as they begin to construct the roster for 2024-25. He will help instill the team’s identity both on the ice and within the locker room as there will presumably be a decent amount of turnover coming to the roster. That will include new faces of rookies turning pro being added into the mix, as well as any other veterans Ontario signs to complement their returning core.

Doty, who now makes his home in Southern California year-round, is expecting to continue his offseason training program in El Segundo as he prepares for another year in the organization.

Doty on the success he and his line had
Coming off of last season when I played nine games, to set a career-high was great and it was just a good season for us in general. I think the fourth line as a group, no matter who it was, was doing good things at most points of the year. I think we did a good job and it’s a credit to those guys I was playing with, there was a little mixed bag there but I think overall we did a really good job.

From the team’s official release –

Doty, 30, returns to Ontario for a sixth consecutive season and the 10th of his professional career. The Billings, Montana native is the longest-tenured member of the Reign roster and the first player inked to an AHL contract for the upcoming campaign.

Returning from an injury in 2023-24, the right-shot forward set AHL career highs with seven goals, 10 points and 57 games played while helping lead Ontario to a third-place finish in the Pacific Division with 42 regular season wins and 91 standings points.

Doty was also in the lineup for all eight of the Reign’s postseason contests, registering an assist and 14 penalty minutes.

During his nine pro seasons from 2014-24, Doty has appeared in 208 AHL games with the Reign and Chicago Wolves, totaling 16 goals and 17 assists while recording 485 penalty minutes.