Elton Hermansson and Liam Lefebvre Touch On Their First Day of LA Kings Development Camp

Day 1 of LA Kings Development Camp has come and gone.

For players like Elton Hermansson and Liam Lefebvre – the first two selected by the Kings at this weekend’s 2026 NHL Draft – it’s their first taste of the Kings organization. The forwards skated this morning and then participated in the camp scrimmage this afternoon, consisting of two timed halves of hockey.

Both players were coming from Buffalo, so the journey across the country was the same. As was the unfamiliarity of the situation. As drafted players just a couple of days ago, it’s the first time we’ve seen either player in a Kings jersey, in the Kings facility here in El Segundo. It’s a lot for young players their first time around, when you go from the highs of being drafted right onto the ice less than two days later.

“They’re never going to feel that comfortable right away, they’re going to be nervous, so that little extra conversation here and there, little extra something, can go a long way, even if it’s just a tap on the butt, give him a good shot or give him a give a pound, give him a 10 second conversation, anything to make them feel more comfortable and maybe get a laugh out of them too,” Development Coach Jarret Stoll said. “Some of them are pretty serious, it’s a serious camp, but we also want to have fun, work hard, compete and battle. That’s what we told them. You can make mistakes, doesn’t matter, you’re not going to get in trouble if you make mistakes. It’s just we want you to compete, we want you to work hard. If you’re making mistakes not doing that, that’s one thing, but we just want them listening, paying attention and trying to do what we’re trying, what we’re trying to teach these guys, and try these fundamentals. But work hard doing it.”

For Hermansson, the transition is probably more so than most.

He’s from Sweden and has never been to Los Angeles before yesterday. He’s never met the bulk of his now teammates or the staff here in Los Angeles and he’s still getting comfortable in this kind of a setting. He speaks English fluently but it’s not his first language, either. It’s a lot of new things for a young player but he’s doing his best to take it all in stride.

Perhaps the biggest transition for Hermansson is that coming to North America, he’s moving to a smaller ice surface than he is accustomed to.

“It’s more intense on the smaller rink, we get more time on the bigger rink, so I would say that’s the biggest difference,” he said. “You need to think faster, just because if you’re not doing that, they guys are coming [at you faster].”

Today wasn’t the most physical or competitive day he’ll face here but lots of guys came ready to go. Players took the body, players were willing to play hard and work in the corners. That’s the kind of stuff that comes a lot faster in North American than it does in Sweden and that’s something Hermansson will continue to adapt to as he goes.

For Stoll, he said he could see the skill that Hermansson possesses within just a couple of reps during the drills in the early part of the day. Came out that quickly. The forwards skated this morning at 9:30 AM and then got back at it in the scrimmage session later in the day. You could tell that Hemansson has a lot of skill in his game. You could also see a player who has had a whirlwind of a 48 hours.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images

Lefebvre, who joined Hermansson among the highly-drafted forwards, opened the scoring in today’s scrummage with a breakaway goal, a nice move to the backhand and a top shelf finish.

Lefebvre is trying to stay in the same boat as Hermansson. He’s here to learn, here to try and assimilate into the Kings organization as best as he can. It’s probably a little bit easier for him, having played his entire life in North America, coming from the QMJHL as opposed to Europe. His game is certainly built for the smaller sheet and that’s really all he knows. He flew across the country yesterday and got a short tour of the facilities, met a ton of people in a short span and before you know it, he was on the ice here this morning.

While both players didn’t necessarily know what to expect coming in, it’s also not all that surprising that Los Angeles is where they’re attending development camp.

Both players said that the Kings actively engaged them in the pre-draft lead up. Hermansson was always on the organization’s radar in Round 1 and Lefebvre quickly became a must-select, based on the scouting reports provided by several individuals on the staff. Wasn’t much of a shock at all that this is where he landed.

“Honestly, pretty good,” Lefebvre said when asked how how good of a feeling he had that the Kings would draft him. “I had a really good interview with them at the combine and after that, my agent had some talks with them as well. I kind of had a good idea going into it that it was a possibility and we’re just really happy that it ended up being here.”

Lefebvre is a player the Kings got a ton of rave reviews on from their scouting staff. As much as I’ve heard a player hyped up, internally in that range in the draft, as I have in awhile.

Seemed like that love translated onto the ice today, with Stoll speaking highly of him as well.

“Yeah, I like him a lot, you can tell his skill level right away, great shot, really good release, you can see why he has the stats that he has in junior hockey,” Stoll said. “Really good kid, we met him at the draft right away, his family came up, really nice family. You can tell they’re very genuine and he is as well. He’s got a bright future ahead of him.”

Moving forward, Hermansson confirmed that his plan is to return to Sweden for the 2026-27 season with MoDo, while Lefebvre is planning to play one more season in the QMJHL. Lefebvre was traded to Cape Breton over the summer and looks set to begin there in the fall. From there, it’s anyone’s guess. Both players would be AHL-eligible in 2027-28, if they and the Kings choose to go that route. Lefebvre’s initial plan was to play NCAA hockey, which is why he came to the United States as a teenager to play in prep school, but the AHL would also be an option. Hermansson could play in the AHL at any point, including in the spring, after his season in Sweden comes to an end.

All to be sorted out. For today, it’s two guys who got to experience a lot of things for the first time. Hopefully they’re a little bit more comfortable tomorrow than they were today and so on down the line.

Day 2 of development camp tomorrow will be a similar format – practices in the morning, scrimmage in the afternoon. Will have content here throughout the week, development camp and beyond. Stay tuned!

First day of @LAKings Development Camp.

Players on the ice over the next 4 days for practice sessions and scrimmages. pic.twitter.com/nNpfdC3zda

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) June 29, 2026