Kings sign forward Aatu Jamsen to one-year, two-way contract extension (AAV: $850,000)

The LA Kings have signed forward Aatu Jamsen to a one-year contract extension. It’s a two-way contract, carrying an AAV of $850,000 at the NHL level.

Jamsen has spent the last two seasons playing with the AHL’s Ontario Reign, after coming over to North America from Finland in 2024. His second season saw some pretty substantial steps forward from his rookie campaign and he was much more of an impact player this past season in the AHL than he was in 2024-25. At 23-years-old, Jamsen still has some room to grow as a player and a one-year extension makes a ton of sense, considering the offensive potential he has.

Instant Analysis
For a seventh-round pick, that Jamsen is a regular AHL player is more than many picks in that range will achieve. Jamsen scored 16 goals last season in the AHL, tied for fifth on the Reign roster, despite missing a handful of games due to injury. Jamsen missed Game 2 of the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs due to injury but was back in the lineup for Games 3 – 5 and collected two points (1-1-2) in four games played overall in the postseason. His role with the Reign varied throughout the season, depending on who was healthy – himself included – and who was up with the Kings. Jamsen played routinely in the Top-9, as the Reign ran what amounted closer to three scoring lines than a Top-6 plus a checking line and he was productive in that role. In the playoffs, with just about everyone healthy and Jared Wright reassigned, Jamsen played on the fourth line at times, with the Reign fairly deep up front. Still, he scored a big goal in Game 3, after missing Game 2 due to injury, and added an assist in Game 4.

Jamsen’s best stretch of the season came in February, when he scored eight goals and totaled 11 points in a 13-game span, arguably the best stretch of his AHL career. Then came an injury setback that cost him the bulk of March, before he was able to get back to it heading into the postseason. Jamsen did miss Game 2 with an injury but played the rest of the way.

Aatu Jämsen is expected to make his return to the lineup tonight after missing 10 straight win an injury.

The second year pro had six goals in 10 games and 11 points (8G, 3A) in 13 games prior to his injury.

— Cam McGuire (@ReignInsider) March 29, 2026

He’s far from a finished product and has not put it all together yet in the AHL. Could it come down the road? Perhaps. There’s been enough shown to merit another season from an organizational perspective. Would expect Jamsen to be in Ontario again next season and see if he can take that next step forward. Part of the adjustment for Jamsen was adding weight, as he transitioned from playing in Finland to playing in North America. Something he spoke about before he began his first professional season. It was an adjustment for him and something that was a priority before he made the jump in 2024. There’s still probably more that needs to come in that area, when it comes to the physicality and strength required at this level. It’s a challenging transition, coming from Europe to North America, especially for someone who excelled with time and space overseas. There is simply less of it in the AHL than there is in Liiga. It’s a large adjustment and takes time for some players.

All in all, this is a developmental contract, as you see every year for drafted players. Jamsen isn’t yet at a point in his career where he’s ready to compete for a job in the NHL, but he feels like he’s maybe at where Martin Chromiak was after his own second season in the AHL. Now, you’d look at Chromiak as a guy who has a chance at coming into training camp and pushing to impress, either for a job or as an early-season callup. You could see that path for Jamsen, if he continues to develop and improve. I think the hope going into next season is that Jamsen can establish himself as a top-six AHL player, someone who is more of a relied upon option than a depth option. If he can do that, he’ll continue to keep himself in the picture going forward.

From the team’s official release –

Jämsen, 23, recently completed his second season with the Ontario Reign, the Kings’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, registering 16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points (16-12=28) in 59 games played with four power-play goals, three game-winning goals and 26 penalty minutes (PIM). The 6-2, 175-pound forward added a pair of points (1-1=2) in four Calder Cup Playoff contests.

Selected in the seventh-round (190th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft, Jämsen has appeared in 95 career AHL games over two seasons with Ontario, accumulating 23 goals and 39 points (23-16=39) with five power-play goals and game-winning goals, 95 shots and 41 penalty minutes (PIM).

Prior to his North American debut, the Lahti, Finland native played parts of three seasons with the Lahti Pelicans of Liiga, Finland’s top professional hockey league, where he accumulated 29 goals and 63 points (29-34=63) in 113 career regular-season games while adding 10 points (5-5=10) in 29 postseason appearances across the 2023 and 2024 Liiga Playoffs.