Jamsen, Lawrence, Ziemmer, Berge head to AHL Training Camp as LAK Roster Reduced to 45

Gooooooooood morning Insiders!

The LA Kings have made four roster moves to begin this Tuesday morning. The Kings have loaned forwards Aatu Jamsen, Kaleb Lawrence and Koehn Ziemmer to the AHL’s Ontario Reign, where they will link up with the Reign group for training camp later on today. Additionally, the Kings have released defenseman Parker Berge from his training-camp tryout and he will report to Reign training camp as well.

No surprises here, per say, but we are seeing the first of the players on NHL contracts join the Reign group for camp, which opened yesterday morning in El Segundo. It’s a sign of things to come over the next couple of days, after we get past today’s game in Boise.

Jamsen, Lawrence and Ziemmer are all likely slotted to spend the season at the AHL level. For Jamsen and Lawrence, it’ll be their second professional seasons while Ziemmer is expected to play his first full season after making his AHL debut last spring.

Both Jamsen and Lawrence had growing pains in their rookie campaigns. For Jamsen, coming from Finland, he had to adjust to the game in North American and the different style of hockey that comes along with that. Not only is the ice narrower, but with that comes less time and space than he was accustomed to playing in Europe. He’s got a ton of skill and that came through at times in Ontario. Wouldn’t be the first young player to take a big step between their first two AHL seasons. Jamsen does have a lot of offensive ability in his game and he should be a year more comfortable with what to expect in the AHL. On an Ontario club that saw several top offensive players depart, there is opportunity to lock down a Top-9 role for a player like Jamsen. Lawrence, on the other hand, split the 2024-25 season between AHL-Ontario and ECHL-Greenville. A big player with a mean streak, Lawrence added six goals in 25 games which is not a bad output for someone who was typically played on the fourth line. At 6-6, there’s great size to work with and Lawrence always had a longer development curve. Big step for him would be to lock down an every-day role with the Reign and then work his way up the lineup.

Ziemmer made his professional debut with the Reign last April as he skated in three AHL games after his WHL career with Prince George concluded in the first round of the playoffs. Ziemmer played well at the 2025 Golden State Rookie Faceoff, scoring in both games, and is now faced with a similar task as Jamsen, which is locking down an every day spot in Ontario. Ziemmer has three seasons of 30+ goals in the WHL, including 41 in the 2022-23 campaign, and he’s flashed a scoring touch at that level over the last few seasons. He’s now got to adjust to a professional lifestyle which extends past the ice. A third-round pick in 2023, the Kings felt they got a player with the upside to exceed that selection when they made the pick. Now, as the competition jumps in difficulty, Ziemmer’s play will have to do the same.

Joining that trio of forwards is defenseman Parker Berge, who was in camp on a try-out agreement. I like Berge’s game, he’s smooth with the puck on his stick and he was one of the best defensemen in the ECHL last season. He’s on an AHL contract with Ontario and will have the chance to crack that roster. Good puck mover who will have the chance to show he can use his abilities at the next level.

With those moves, the Kings roster now sits at 45 players.

There will be two groups for today, a game group and a non-game group. Both are shown below. The non-game group is on the ice at 10 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center while the game group will not skate and will head to Idaho later on today.

Game Group
Forwards (12) – Alex Turcotte, Akil Thomas, Jeff Malott, Martin Chromiak, Andre Lee, Taylor Ward, Glenn Gawdin, Liam Greentree, Francesco Pinelli, Samuel Helenius, Cole Guttman, Andrei Kuzmenko

Defensemen (7) – Kyle Burroughs, Joe Hicketts, Jacob Moverare, Jack Millar, Samuel Bolduc, Kirill Kirsanov, Brandt Clarke

Goaltenders (2) – Darcy Kuemper, Anton Forsberg

Non-Game Group
Forwards (13) – Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore, Alex Laferriere, Kevin Fiala, Phillip Danault, Kenny Connors, Warren Foegele, Joel Armia, Jared Wright, Quinton Byfield, Logan Brown

Defensemen (8) – Brian Dumoulin, Cody Ceci, Joel Edmundson, Drew Doughty, Mikey Anderson, Tim Rego, Jakub Dvorak, Otto Salin

Goaltenders (3) – Erik Portillo, Pheonix Copley, Isaiah Saville

Game preview to follow in a couple of hours and as noted above, look for a much larger group of roster moves to come over the next 48 hours, as the Kings get down to one manageable group heading into the final two exhibition contests.