Kenny Connors, Otto Salin, Jared Wright and Koehn Ziemmer Prepare For The Next Step In Their Careers

Hailing from three different countries and three different leagues, four Kings prospects are set to take the next step in their respective hockey careers and are now expected to compete for valuable ice time on the Ontario Reign this coming season. Kenny Connors (UMASS Amherst, NCAA), Otto Salin (TPS Turku, SM-Liiga), Jared Wright (Denver University, NCAA), and Koehn Ziemmer (Prince George, WHL) are now just over two months away from beginning their rookie seasons in professional hockey in North America.

The group consists of three players from the Kings’ 2022 draft class (Connors, Salin, Wright) and one from the 2023 draft class (Ziemmer), and the organization’s Director of Amateur Scouting, Mark Yannetti, looks to have found a quartet of promising young skaters in the middle-to-late rounds with these recent selections. With three forwards and one defenseman slated to potentially enter the Reign’s everyday lineup this season, each player will bring a different piece and different attributes to the 20-man Reign roster.

Having caught up with all four soon-to-be rookies during development camp earlier this month, each one put an emphasis on the value of being back at camp once again and how important it is to take on a leadership role as one of the older players. Four-time development camp attendees Connors and Wright each touched on the significance of having that leadership quality when speaking to the media.

Beginning with Connors, the three-year UMASS Amherst Minuteman explained that “I’m just trying to be a veteran presence in the locker room. A bit more of a leader and going first in drills to give a good example. I’m a lot more confident coming back here and I’m ready to compete. All of that comes with comfort. Knowing people around the rink and the staff, anything I can do to help our younger guys I’m happy to do.”

Wright, a 2024 National Champion and three-year player at Denver, echoed Connors’ takeaways but added that “being back at camp for my fourth time is great. I’m just more comfortable overall knowing the staff and players. Hopefully I can be a role model for the younger guys. Hopefully we can all learn together and get comfortable.”

Each of Connors, Salin, Wright, and Ziemmer showed off their individual stand-out abilities during development camp and now head into an all-important July, August, and September ahead of rookie camp and training camp.

Connors, a 22-year-old, hard-nosed, gritty, and skilled winger from Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, exhibited his two-way game during development camp. Gaining more confidence and trust from his coaching staff at UMASS this past season resulted in career highs in all offensive categories, an uptick in ice time, and more crunch time opportunities late in games and on special teams.

“I worked a lot with the coaches trying to round out my game out. I realized what I need to be at the next level as a pro and working a lot on both sides of the puck,” Connors said, reflecting on last season.

Like he did in the 2023 World Junior Championships with Team USA in route to a Gold Medal, Connors’ game is one that will see him gain a coach’s trust because of his effort and skillset in the corners, below the goal line, in front of the net, on the boards, and in the tough areas. Now that Connors has turned pro, the 6-foot-2, 207-pound winger is focused on taking advantage of the opportunity to spend time with and learn from the organization’s development coaches.

Wright, who has made two trips to the NCAA National Championship game and has one ring to show for it, is set to bring an electric game to the Reign. The 6-foot-3, 176-pound Burnsville, Minnesota native has eye-popping speed. Shown off throughout his three-year collegiate and in this latest development camp, Wright, 22, is in the elite category for speed. Self-described as a player who is “consistent every night, a puck pursuer, forechecker, backchecker, and a guy that wants to help his teammates,” Wright is the ultimate workhorse. His traits make him a phenomenal, defensively superb skater, so much so that he spent all of last season matching up against his opponents’ top line on a nightly basis.

With 122 NCAA games of experience, Wright has played in every high-pressure moment at Denver that the college game has to offer. Touching on how that history and experience prepare him for the next level, Wright explained that “I’m used to playing in big moments and high-pressure games. At the AHL and NHL level, it’s a lot of high-pressure games because every little detail matters and can be the decisive play for the outcome. In order to make it far in both of those leagues, you must be comfortable in those situations, you have to have character, and be relentless. Hopefully, I can bring that and help build something special.”

Wright earned a spot in the Reign lineup at the end of last season after his collegiate season ended. Appearing in three regular-season games and both of the Reign’s postseason games, Wright couldn’t have been more excited to have gotten the opportunity. “It was fantastic. I was grateful to get the opportunity to play some games with the Reign last year, including the playoffs. It was a great experience for me personally, and hopefully, I can carry what I learned and that momentum with me into my first year of pro hockey.”

Still needing to add to his game, Wright will be the first to admit he needs to improve on the offensive end of the ice.

“I for sure need to work on shooting. I need to have more of a shoot-first mentality when I get chances in the offensive zone,” he said. “I like to pass the puck first and I need to work on moving my feet when I have the puck. I tend to slow down when I’ve got the puck, so move my feet and look to shoot.”

For both Connors and Wright, the opportunities to attend development camp have been extremely valuable. Neither has been able to participate in the annual September rookie camp and tournament against opposing NHL prospects these past few years because of their college schedules.

“With college, I haven’t been able to be out [west] for the rookie tournaments because I was in school,” Connors explained. “Anytime I can spend time with our development coaches is great, and I don’t take it for granted. They have a ton of knowledge, you learn so much from them, and it’s a blast working with the development staff.”

Now set to take part in their first rookie camp and tournament in September, Connors and Wright have an early opportunity to make their case to earn ultra-competitive ice time for the upcoming 2025-26 Ontario Reign season.

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Now to the blue line where Salin, the Kings fifth-round selection in 2023, is set to begin his rookie season in North America. Coming across the pond from Finland, Salin already has four years and 133 games of professional hockey under his belt. Having played in SM-Liiga since he was 17 years old, Salin, the right-handed defenseman, accumulated 49 points (13-36=49) in his time at the pro level in his home country’s top league.

The move to Southern California comes with more than just a great opportunity to kickstart his career here in North America.

“Well, I’m coming in here now. It’s a new team, a new league, and a new country,” he said. “Everything changes pretty much, but I’m feeling really good about it and I’m very excited to get going here.”

Salin is set to begin the 2025-25 campaign as the only LA-drafted right-shot defenseman in Ontario. However, it’s not just the way he holds the stick that gives him a great opportunity to develop, grow, and succeed in his rookie season: it’s his skillset too. He’s viewed as a very strong skater with good vision and puck-moving skills. Salin already has a toolbox that checks boxes on the backend. At just 20 years old for almost the whole 2024-25 season with TPS in SM-Liiga, Salin ranked second among defensemen in offense and seventh on his team with 28 points (8-20=28) in 56 games.

Salin also had the opportunity to play in a trio of regular season games for the Reign down the stretch last season, an experience that is helping him prepare for this upcoming season as well. He also played in one of Ontario’s two playoff games, allowing him to see the highest intensity that the AHL has to offer. Having gotten those four games, Salin was quick to reflect on where he feels he needs to improve and what he’s been working on during this offseason. Coming into a league that plays on smaller ice and has the traits of my grittiness and physicality, Salin put it simply, saying, “after last season, I just have to get more strength in my body, more power, more quickness, and explosiveness.”

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The final prospect for today’s feature is another forward and the lone 2023 draftee joining the organization this season. Ziemmer, a third-round selection, brings a high offensive ceiling to the black, silver, and white. Having totaled 260 points (128-132=260) in 244 career WHL games with the Prince George Cougars, Ziemmer could develop into both an offensive asset and a solid, powerful forward. As a 6-foot-1, 203-pounder, Ziemmer too took a big step forward this past season, explaining that he’s more than just an offensive producer.

“I really worked on my game last season, working on being a full 200-foot player and having the coaches trust in all zones,” he said.

Also a member of the Reign’s roster following the conclusion of his WHL season last year, Ziemmer appeared in three regular-season games and one postseason game. Taking the lessons he learned from that experience, Ziemmer told the media during development camp that he “was lucky enough to join the Reign at the end of last season, so that was a great experience, and I really think it helped me prepare for going into this coming season… It was a good steppingstone to getting into pro hockey. I was able to dip my toes into the water and see from all the guys what it’s like to be pro every single day.”

While 71 points (37-34=71) in 61 games last season was impressive, the Mayerthorpe, Alberta native spent a chunk of the previous offseason and beginning of this past season rehabilitating and getting back up to speed after a gruesome lower-body injury in the 2023-24 season. Now fully healthy, Ziemmer’s added attributes to becoming a 200-foot player have prepared him for the next step in his career.

Not content with where his game was at the end of last season, Ziemmer’s attention is on “lots of things to work on off the ice. On the ice, [the development staff] says bigger, faster, stronger. So, that’s my focus.”

As all four of the Kings prospects prepare themselves for their first full year of North American professional hockey, the organization will have different options to boost their respective lineups based on the different positions and skill sets these players possess. All promising and deserving of a chance to establish themselves come the rookie tournament and eventually training camp, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the Kings pipeline. They’re moving on up.