Rookie Preview, 9/14 – Greentree Talks Kings Debut + Mania Interview, G2 Personnel

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (0-1-0) vs. Utah Hockey Club (0-1-0)
WHAT: 2024 Rookie Faceoff, Game 2
WHEN: Saturday, September 14 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Toyota Sports Performance Center – El Segundo, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: LAKings.com – AUDIO – Video Stream Only – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings return to action this evening to complete the back-to-back set, as they host Utah Hockey Club for the first time in franchise history during the 2024 Rookie Faceoff.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings will take on Utah for the first time ever, following the relocation from Arizona over the summer.

Both teams played their tournament openers yesterday and lost close games, with the Kings falling to Vegas and Utah falling to San Jose by a 3-2 final.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings took an optional morning skate today at TSPC, considering the back-to-back game, without the entire group on the ice today.

Goaltenders Kolby Hay and Jackson Parsons were the first netminders off this morning following the skate, which points towards that being the tandem tonight against Utah. Hay is a camp invitee from the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, who also attended development camp this summer, and should be in line for his tournament debut. Fellow camp invitee Parsons also was at development camp this summer and comes from the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, where he was a teammate of Francesco Pinelli a couple years back. Could get a look at both in tonight’s game.

Here’s what the game group for the Kings could look like this evening, based on intel from morning skate today –

Forwards: Caderoth, Davis, Greentree, Jamsen, Lawrence, Moynihan, Neutens, Olson, Parker-Jones, Tulk, Wise, Ziemmer
Defensemen: Berge, Booth, Dvorak, Mania, Millar, Woolley

As noted yesterday, the Kings have 15 forwards, 10 defensemen and five goaltenders on their roster for this tournament. They need to rotate guys and looking at the group who is here, some players are under a bigger microscope than others.

Look for Brandt Clarke to not play tonight, as seemed to be the case from talking with Marco Sturm in advance of the tournament. Other more “veteran” players like Cole Krygier and Francesco Pinelli, as well as AHL-contracted players who are more proven like Bryce Brodzinski and Luke Rowe also may sit out tonight, with eyes on the tournament finale on Monday against Anaheim. Scheduled rotation for guys like Clarke, Pinelli, Portillo who skated this morning for extra work. Nothing injury related, simply scheduled rotation.

With Pinelli and Clarke both out, Sturm will need to reallocate his leadership group for tonight’s game, with a young group expected.

UTAH HOCKEY CLUB VITALS: Utah made its tournament debut yesterday morning, falling by a goal against San Jose. Utah’s goals came from forward Peter Repcik and Owen Allard against the Sharks.

Utah forward Tij Iginla, who was selected sixth overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, is on the roster for Utah but will not play due to injury. Utah is led by defenseman Maksymilian Szuber, who played in one NHL games last season for Arizona and logged 70 in the AHL with the Tucson Roadrunners, collecting 28 points (7-21-28). Other top prospects include forward Cole Beaudoin (2024) and defenseman Mavric Lamoureux (2023), both first-round selections by Utah/Arizona over the past two drafts.

Notes –
Greentree’s Debut
“You expect it to be a lot faster and a lot stronger, bigger of a game and I think that’s what kind of happened. I thought I played well for what the difference is between then OHL and coming here. It’s obviously a different game.”

That was Liam Greentree, speaking after his first game in an LA Kings sweater yesterday evening.

Greentree showed well in his debut, skating on the left wing of the top forward line alongside fellow prospects Francesco Pinelli and Koehn Ziemmer. Greentree had a couple of good looks throughout the game for himself, showing poise in and around the net to generate his offense and moved pretty well with the pace of play. He also set up one of the team’s best chances, late in the third period in a 6-on-5 situation, with a seam pass to Ziemmer for a one-timer. By his own admission, his skating was the weakest part of his game coming into the draft but I thought there was some pep in his step, especially when he played on the penalty kill.

“I thought I felt pretty good, pretty confident,” Greentree said of how he handled the pace of the game. “I hit some guys, banging bodies, so I thought I could keep up.”

For this version of the Kings rookie squad, there aren’t a ton of forwards with NHL contracts on the roster. Greentree is one of five drafted players who are signed to entry-level contracts and he’s the only first-round pick, so the spotlight on him during an event like this is greater than it might have been a few years back, when the prospect pool was fuller.

Marco Sturm felt that Greentree performed well in his debut, saying unprompted that he “liked Greentree, I thought he was pretty solid today.”

Sturm said he was almost pleasantly surprised seeing Greentree in person, noting his size when you see him up close compared to in say a YouTube highlight video. He complemented the way Greentree asked intelligent questions on the ice and liked what he saw from the practice itself as well.

“I was pleasantly surprised when I saw him in the room, because he’s a big kid, looks like he’s in great shape, looks like a hockey player,” Sturm said of Greentree before the tournament. “That’s what I like. Very straightforward guy, I liked what I saw at practice, he came up to me right away and asked great questions, so his mind is already there. Seems like a really good kid.”

For this camp, it’s Greentree’s first real chance to make an impression on Sturm and the rest of the organization. He’ll likely play again today and wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the lineup on Monday as well, as a focal point to continue to evaluate.

While it would make some sense that showing off what he can do would be a goal, it’s not Greentree’s approach at all. He understands he’s coming in for the first time and he’s trying to use this weekend to improve his game, heading into main camp and beyond.

“My goals are honestly just to get better,” Greentree said. “My goal isn’t to showcase to everyone what I can do, it’s to make myself better, make what I’m good at even better and that’s what I’m going to continue doing.”

Mania

Additionally, Insiders, checking in with defenseman Matthew Mania entering what is his first Rookie Faceoff.

Mania missed out on both development camp and the rookie tournament last season due to a shoulder injury that cost him time over the summer. This season, he was on the ice for the first time in a Kings jersey at development camp in July before he attended Team USA’s Summer Showcase in advance of the World Junior Championships, a team he is vying to make. Now he’s here for his first rookie camp on the ice and his first main camp, looking to impress before returning to the OHL for his age-19 season.

Mania is an intriguing prospect. He’s certainly further ahead on the offensive side of the ice than the defensive side, which was laid out when the Kings selected him. He’s a good skater and a good puck mover. He scored 10 goals during his draft season and was still a half-point-per-game last year as he worked his way back from injury. He should be a high-impact player now on a Sudbury team coming off a season that saw them just six points off the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

One to keep an eye on over the next couple of days.

Kings will take on Utah later on this evening. Stream will be available on LAKings.com, as it was last night, in all markets!