Ontario Reign add forward Bryce Brodzinski to roster with AHL contract for 2024-25

The Ontario Reign added some more depth to their roster Thursday with a familiar surname for Kings fans!

Bryce Brodzinski, younger brother of former Kings and Reign forward Jonny, joined Ontario on a one-year AHL contract for the 2024-25 season.

A former seventh-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2019 after he was named the Mr. Hockey award winner as the best high school hockey player in Minnesota, Brodzinski is set to turn pro at the start of the 2024-25 season.

The Blaine, Minn. native spent his last five seasons as a standout at the University of Minnesota, totaling 119 points with the Gophers on an almost even 60 goals and 59 assists. He came into his own over the last two campaigns when he reached the 30-point plateau in consecutive seasons with 31 in 2022-23 and a career-high 36 last year.

Brodzinski helped Minnesota reach the NCAA National Championship game in his fourth year with the program during a standout run through the postseason where he recorded seven points on four goals and three assists, including a hat trick in a regional win over Canisius.

The 24-year-old forward comes from a hockey family known very well in Blaine. His father, Mike, played for the high school team before having success at St. Cloud State in the mid-1980s. Bryce is the youngest of four brothers, all of whom played at the Division I NCAA level and reached the professional ranks.

The oldest of his siblings, Jonny, now 31, will be remembered by Kings and Reign fans as a former draft selection by LA in 2013. The fifth-rounder played collegiately at St. Cloud before making his pro debut with Ontario in 2015. He went on to play 54 games with the Kings during three seasons from 2016-19. He is currently getting set to begin his fifth season in the New York Rangers organization.

His other brothers are Michael, who spent time in San Jose’s organization after playing at Minnesota, and Easton, who spent the last two seasons in the ECHL after a five-year run at St. Cloud.

More context on the signing here from the team’s release on Brodzinski –

The Ontario Reign, proud AHL affiliate of the LA Kings, announced the signing of forward Bryce Brodzinski to an AHL contract for the 2024-25 season.

Brodzinski, 24, will begin his professional campaign with the Reign after completing a five-year collegiate career at the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference. The forward competed in 185 games with the Gophers from 2019-24 and compiled 119 points on 60 goals and 59 assists (60-59=119).

Originally drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 7th round of the 2019 NHL Draft (196 overall), he is the all-time leader in games played in Minnesota history.

During the most recent 2023-24 campaign, Brodzinski tied for the team lead in scoring while serving as an alternate captain, setting a career-high with 36 points on 14 goals and 22 assists along with a +21 rating. 12 of his points came on the power play on five goals and seven assists.

The year prior, the Blaine, Minn. native finished with 19 goals and 31 points while helping the Gophers to a Big Ten Regular Season title and the 23rd Frozen Four appearance in program history. Brodzinski was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Fargo Regional in the NCAA Tournament after totaling five points in two games, including a hat trick and a four-point performance.

Measuring 6-feet, 200 pounds, the forward was the captain of his high school team in Blaine and was recognized with the Mr. Hockey Award in 2018-19 as the top senior player in the state. His brother Jonny, currently with the New York Rangers, played 156 games with the Reign during four seasons from 2015-19.

There are now seven forwards signed to AHL contracts with the Reign for the upcoming 2024-25 season, including Brodzinski, Jacob Doty, Shawn Element, Charles Hudon, Quinn Olson, Tate Singleton and Colton Young. Combined with those on NHL contracts that will find their way to Ontario, the Kings’ affiliate should have some good competition for playing time up front.

The Reign are also expected to be crowded on the back end, with a mix of assigned Kings contracts that figures to include rookie Angus Booth, as well as recent college grads Jack Millar and Luke Rowe.

One intriguing thing to watch is that Ontario has just one goaltender (Dryden McKay) signed to an AHL contract. As we wait to hear about a new deal for Erik Portillo, who is preparing for his second pro year, it will be interesting to see if the Reign add some more depth in the crease for the organization behind Portillo, Pheonix Copley, Darcy Kuemper and David Rittich.

We’re under a month before the rookies hit the ice for the Rookie Faceoff event in El Segundo! Plenty of updates are sure to come here on LAKI between now and then.