Four players return to respective juniors clubs, including goaltender Carter George

Happy Monday, Insiders.

The first roster moves of training camp are upon us. The following players have been re-assigned to their respective junior clubs –

Jimmy Lombardi – Flint (OHL)
Jan Chovan – Sudbury (OHL)
Nate Corbet – Kelowna (WHL)

Additionally, goaltender Carter George has been loaned to Owen Sound (OHL).

All four players played in the Rookie Faceoff in Irvine last weekend, and are younger players who are set to play junior hockey this season, with George also logging his first career preseason start yesterday in Ontario.

George was, to put it simply, outstanding in his preseason debut, as he allowed just one goal against the Anaheim Ducks in a 3-1 victory. He made 26 saves on 27 shots faced, including a dazzling 2-on-0 save to keep the game tied in the second period. He played in two periods of relief action during the 2024 preseason but this was another step up for him. He more than met that challenge.

“You just have confidence when he’s in net, that’s the bottom line, it just looks like he’s going to save it, it never looks like he’s in a lot of danger,” Kings Head Coach Jim Hiller said of George after yesterday’s game. “I don’t know what more to say about him……but when he makes the coach confident, that’s usually a pretty good thing if you’re the goalie.”

For George, he now returns to Owen Sound, where he will hope to backstop a bit more of a competitive team than he had last year. George is expected to be the starting goaltender for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships after a really impressive 2024-25 campaign in the OHL. One more season of junior hockey for George and then he’ll likely join the professional ranks with the Kings or Reign on a full-time basis next season, having already signed his entry-level contract with the organization.

"Nope."

– Carter George pic.twitter.com/MNQnOOWwHx

— LA Kings (@LAKings) September 21, 2025

Lombardi and Chovan were both selected by the Kings in June at the 2025 NHL Draft. I thought Lombardi had a good showing of himself over his time with the Kings. Small yet shifty player. He’s got a long development curve but he’s got the time to get there. One to keep an eye on down the road, but he showed some skill during the rookie games and during some of the camp practices I watched. He’s set to play junior hockey this season at Flint and college hockey in the 2026-27 season at the University of Michigan. Like I said, long curve, but there’s something there. Chovan had a really nice assist in the Rookie Faceoff in the game against San Jose and showed some good poise for a younger player. Chovan is set to play with Sudbury in the OHL this season after playing U-20 hockey in Finland last season. He’ll likely represent Slovakia at the 2026 World Junior Championships this winter and moving to the OHL will help get him adjusted to the North American style of play. Corbet was a training-camp invitee this season and is entering his 20-year-old season with Kelowna. Showed some gumption in Irvine last weekend, challenging Anaheim’s 6-6 defenseman Konnor Smith to a fight. Made an impression there.

The three CHL leagues are already into regular-season play and all four players will head back to Canada and hit the ground running in regular-season play.

The Kings training-camp roster now sits at 55 players – 31 forwards, 19 defensemen and five goaltenders, with all but two of those players healthy and participating, after injuries to Corey Perry and Angus Booth. Today is a full day off for the Kings on the ice, so no practices to report on. The next two days will look a little bit different than what we saw previously, with the Kings playing preseason games in Vegas and Anaheim. Game groups will morning skate at Toyota Sports Performance Center and those not playing will have full practices, likely with one full group and one smaller group, as was the case yesterday. Starting on Thursday, expecting the Kings to run with two, manageable groups of players for practices on Thursday and Friday, before what will likely be a larger wave of transactions to come either this weekend or early next week.