2024 Training Camp Preview – Wingers

It’s Rookie Faceoff Week!

As the LA Kings look towards the start of the 2024-25 season, we’ll take a look, position by position, at the group that will be hitting the ice this season for the NHL club and the AHL’s Ontario Reign.

For today, though, we’re taking a second-to-last bigger picture look at how the Kings enter training camp. With two position groups left, we’ll first switch over to the wings, where the Kings have a large group of players in the mix for eight NHL jobs and ample opportunity in the AHL.

A look at those who are signed below. For reference, there will be a center article and a winger article. Certain players could fall into either bucket, for I made an executive decision on a few guys and placed them either in this article or in tomorrow’s on the centers. Will include players with multiple options in the article.

NHL Contracted Wingers, NHL Experience: Samuel Fagemo, Kevin Fiala, Warren Foegele, Tanner Jeannot, Adrian Kempe, Alex Laferriere, Trevor Lewis, Jeff Malott, Trevor Moore, Alex Turcotte
NHL Contracted Wingers, No NHL Experience: Martin Chromiak, Liam Greentree, Aatu Jamsen, Andre Lee, Tyler Madden, Taylor Ward, Koehn Ziemmer
AHL Contracted Wingers: Bryce Brodzinski, Jacob Doty, Shawn Element, Charles Hudon, Colton Young
Restricted Free Agents: Arthur Kaliyev

Where They’re At
It’ll look different this season.

That is for sure. Last season’s group, entering the season, had a very defined approach. We knew for a while what the lines would look like entering camp. Until Viktor Arvidsson suffered a long-term injury during camp, and Arthur Kaliyev was suspended, we knew what Opening Night would have looked like. Perhaps that is great context for what’s to come. We know what we know today but we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. So, with what we’re looking at below, there is a sense of where we’re at, without knowing what’s to come.

With the forwards, here’s what I am expecting to see on the wings entering training camp. Adrian Kempe will be the team’s RW1 once again, and look for Alex Laferriere to get the first opportunity on the left on that line. Behind those guys, in the middle six, the Kings are expecting to pair Trevor Moore and Tanner Jeannot and Kevin Fiala with Warren Foegele, with Alex Turcotte, Trevor Lewis and Samuel Fagemo also expected to be right in the mix for NHL spots in one form or another, whether that be supplanting someone above them or playing on the fourth line.

That alignment comes from my conversation with Rob Blake on July 1, so it’s not exactly today’s intel. Perhaps the thought process has changed, as Blake, Jim Hiller and others have mapped out the way they want the team to look. Perhaps it’s as it was. Keep in mind, though, that’s the above is what I’m expecting for Day 1 of camp. Hiller is a coach who likes to move the pieces around, whether that be during games or between games. The Kings also had a lot of success playing with 11 forwards last season and could turn back to that at times this season as well. There’s also training camp performance to consider. The Kings signed veteran winger Jeff Malott who is a big body and brings an intriguing skillset, with a lot of AHL production. There are opportunities to change that plan and training camp is the time to do so.

With Fagemo and Turcotte perhaps ready to make the jump to the Kings, that leaves opportunities and openings in Ontario. A guy like Malott could be a Top-6 winger with the Reign, if he doesn’t make the NHL roster, with three consecutive AHL seasons at 20+ goals. Veteran Charles Hudon is back on the second season of the two-year AHL contract he signed last summer, coming off what was nearly a point-per-game season. He’ll be a top contributor with the Reign once again.

There is opportunity behind those players for returning forwards. Martin Chromiak, Andre Lee, Tyler Madden and Taylor Ward are all back with the organization on NHL contracts. Chromiak has shown flashes in the AHL and has scored 15 goals in consecutive seasons. His upside is higher and he could have the chance to reach it with more looks higher in the lineup. For Madden, he’s been a consistent middle-six producer and is at the point of needing to take that next step to continue to grow. For Lee, health has been an issue, but both he and Ward had strong playoffs with the Reign. There’s hope that both can take the next step towards potentially playing NHL games down the road, but they’ll need full and consistent AHL seasons to get there.

Forward Aatu Jamsen will look to insert himself into that mix as well. Jamsen signed his entry-level contract over the summer and will be a “new pro” in the organization, at least from a North American standpoint. Jamsen is an intriguing prospect, a seventh-round pick, who played multiple professional seasons in Finland, but could make the transition here to the Kings or the Reign. Jamsen has top-six potential in the AHL and has some intriguing skills to look out for.

Beyond that group, under NHL contracts, are Ziemmer, who could play either in the AHL or the WHL, and Greentree, who is the team’s most recent first-round pick and is likely slotted to return to the OHL in Windsor.

In terms of AHL contracts, veteran forward Jacob Doty is a mainstay with Ontario and plays his role extremely effectively. He’s a quality leader and veteran for younger players and typically plays lower in the lineup, embracing the role he is assigned. The Reign also signed Brodzinski, Young and Element to compete for their own roles on the team. Brodzinski is an intriguing player, who will be on the roster at the Rookie Faceoff, while Young played AHL games in Ontario last season and Element provides toughness and physicality, as Doty also does.

Regarding forward Arthur Kaliyev, he is unsigned as of this article. The latest update is that there is no update.

“No new update and no new news,” Kings Assistant General Manager Nelson Emerson said. “He’s a good hockey player. He can score, but he has to figure some things out. I think Rob and our group, they’re talking to his agent and they’re trying to figure stuff out.”

Kaliyev would be in that group of players in the mix for lower-lineup duty with higher-lineup upside. He worked well with Danault/Moore in a limited stretch last season and never really got another shot there. Not sure, ultimately, what happens here. Camp begins in nine days and we’ll see what happens between now and then.

What To Look For
The group of nine forwards who you could expect to make the NHL roster, for sure, combined for 136 goals last season. The Kings would like to see that number go up this coming season. It’s important when evaluating that total not to count 2023-24 as a baseline. Trevor Moore scored a career-high 31 goals, while Kevin Fiala had 29, six more than the season prior. I do think both players are capable of repeating those totals, but if both score 25, it can still be a strong season, assuming others around them see their own numbers rise. I’m looking at Adrian Kempe to exceed 30 goals once again, which feels likely, and towards younger players like Laferriere, Turcotte and Fagemo to exceed last season’s totals. Included in that mix are Foegele and Jeannot, who scored 20 and seven goals respectively last season. The Kings would like to see that number increase collectively as well, with both players expected to have an opportunity to play in the top-nine.

There are more unknowns for this season’s group overall, but I think the ceiling could be higher than last year’s output. Fiala, Kempe and Moore are known quantities and are all established players. For Foegele and Jeannot, they’re established NHL players but we don’t know what they are as LA Kings. Does Foegele thrive in an expanded role with the Kings, with more opportunity, or do we not see that growth due to not being on the roster with McDavid and Draisaitl? Is Jeannot the player we saw this past season or the one who netted five draft picks and a prospect off a 24-goal season in Nashville? There’s an in between for both, but we don’t know the answers there.

It’s the younger players who will likely make or break that total, though. Can Laferriere take the next step forward and enhance that top line, producing alongside the likes of Kempe and Anze Kopitar? Can Turcotte and/or Fagemo develop into regular NHL players? If they can, it’s likely they will score more than their one combined goal last season. I include Turcotte in this bucket and Akil Thomas as a center, but they’re interchangeable. The Kings are banking on these players taking a step forward. All are capable, but they proof will be in the pudding. With Kaliyev, it’s a complete unknown in terms of what his role will be this season. If things work out to the point of where he comes to camp and is on the roster, the offensive upside is there.

With regards to the rest of the group, I’m excited to see a guy like Jeff Malott in camp. 6-5 with three 20-goal seasons in the AHL. An interesting player to keep an eye on. Could be a key guy for Ontario with NHL upside, or perhaps he fights into the mix. Beyond that, I’m also interested in seeing how some of the younger players perform during the preseason. How does Aatu Jamsen fair in his first training camp. Same for Liam Greentree. Does one of the players from last season’s Ontario roster stand out during the preseason and push for an NHL look, or a prominent AHL opportunity. Where does Koehn Ziemmer land. Lots to look out for, certainly.

Looking Ahead
One more camp preview to come, with a look at the centers for the upcoming season. The Kings have familiar faces down the middle, though it will be some old people in new roles, perhaps.