Kings prospects set to attend 2025 Summer Showcase in Minnesota, in advance of 2026 World Juniors

Some news this morning from USA Hockey as four members of the Kings prospect pool were among the 42 players invited to the Summer Showcase event to be held at the end of July in Minnesota. All four players were selected by the Kings in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Included in that mix was first-round selection Henry Brzustewicz, who will attend the showcase event coming off his first LA Kings development camp last week. Brzustewicz, a Memorial Cup champion with OHL-London this season, was drafted by the Kings in Round 1 of the 2025 NHL Draft and was at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo two days later, on the ice with the rest of the Kings prospect pool. Joining him at development camp was fourth-round selection Caeden Herrington, who will also represent the Kings on the blueline with Team USA at the summer showcase event after he led all USHL defensemen in goals last season. In total, 14 defensemen were invited to camp with 7-8 likely to make the final roster for the tournament, to be held on home ice this winter in Minnesota.

Up front, Kings forward prospects Kristian Epperson and Brendan McMorrow were among those invited to the selection camp. In total, 23 forwards were invited to attend with 13-14 likely to be selected for the final roster. Epperson posted 80 points this season with Saginaw in the Ontario Hockey League while McMorrow scored 24 goals in the USHL playing for Waterloo, in addition to seven goals in 15 playoff games, which ranked inside the league’s Top-5. Both players played with the US National Team Development Program during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, placing them firmly on USA Hockey’s radar. Both players have a skillset that would translate well into a bottom-six role in the lineup on the international stage, should the United States be in search of those types of players.

In total, the event will feature four nations – United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden.

For Team Canada, I’d expect goaltender Carter George to be in attendance after he was the starting netminder at the 2025 World Junior Championships last winter. While forward Liam Greentree would certainly merit an invitation, he was just recently cleared to stickhandle again and has not yet been cleared to shoot pucks or for contact. So, unclear if he will be in attendance or not. Greentree was at Kings development camp last week and did skate but he mostly just skated, working in stickhandling later in the week after he was cleared by team doctors to do so. For Team Finland, goaltender Petteri Rimpinen was the starter at last season’s tournament and was selected as the event’s most-valuable goaltender. With one year left of his own eligibility, I’d expect him to be in the same role after leading his team to a silver medal in 2025, falling in overtime against Team USA.

The showcase will run from July 27 through August 2, featuring six days worth of games over the seven days. On the first three days, the United States and Canada will be split into two squads each, giving more players the opportunity to get into a couple games early in camp. Beginning on Wednesday, July 30, both teams will condense into one roster and each team will face the other three once each. The full game schedule is listed below –

Sunday, July 27
USA White vs. Finland
USA Blue vs. Sweden

Monday, July 28
Finland vs. USA Blue
Sweden vs. USA White

Tuesday, July 29
Canada White vs. Canada Red

Wednesday, July 30
Sweden vs. USA
Canada vs. Finland

Friday, August 1
Finland vs. USA
Canada vs. Sweden

Saturday, August 2
Sweden vs. Finland
USA vs. Canada

In total, that’s seven games involving American prospects, which means that the quartet of Kings players in attendance should get a good stretch of games in one form or another. Team Canada has four games on the schedule, with one being in intra-squad style game, while Team Finland has five. Should be ample looks at all of the Kings prospects who will be in attendance.

All games will be held at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, MN, home of the University of Minnesota’s women’s hockey team.

Will have coverage of the camp when the time comes, including what I’d expect to be more formal confirmations with regards to George and Rimpinen as we get closer to the actual event.