Kings recall forward Jeff Malott from AHL’s Ontario Reign

The LA Kings have recalled forward Jeff Malott from the AHL’s Ontario Reign.

For Malott, this is his first recall of the season with the Kings and it’s deserved. Malott has one career NHL game with the Winnipeg Jets during the 2021-22 season, so it isn’t his first time at this level, but it is his first opportunity of the season. A consistent and proven AHL player, Malott has been a standout performer with the Reign so far this season. A good opportunity now for him to potentially showcase what he can do in the NHL.

Instant Analysis
Starting off with a quote from Ontario Head Coach Marco Sturm –

“He plays the right way. He goes hard, he goes hard to the net, he wants to win really badly, he wants to score, so everything he really does is 100 percent and full speed. He’s been a great addition, on the ice and off the ice. He’s a good example, I think, for the young guys to see what he brings every night. Those are the guys that you hope don’t just score a goal but being a big reason to finish off a game and don’t forget his toughness too. Right now, he’s doing everything and it’s been great having him.”

I love this quote, personally.

Plays the right way. Goes hard. Goes to the net. Wants to win, badly. Does everything 100 percent. Good example off the ice. Full speed.

I’m not sitting here saying that Jeff Malott is a savior for the Kings. But you have to look at these callups for the role that they would be expected to play in the NHL. With the Kings, that role would be LW4 or RW4. While Malott plays a higher role in the AHL, what Sturm said about him should translate into a fourth-line role, right? Or at least you’d think. I’m not looking to mess with the identity of the fourth line if possible, but with injuries right now, two of the three members are currently unavailable. Can the Kings keep that line’s success going with other parts? Malott feels like a decent swing to try and do that.

At the AHL level, he’s now scored at least 20 goals in four consecutive seasons and his 23 here in 2024-25 has tied a career high, while placing second-highest on the Reign this season. He is one of three, 50-point scorers with the Reign as well, with. His 51 points also a career high. While advanced metrics are less available at the AHL level compared to the NHL level, what I can add is that the goals are not by accident. The chances support his goalscoring output, if not suggest there’s even a little bit more in there.

What I like about Malott, though, is that while he is a first-line caliber player in the AHL, it’s not just about the points and the offense, which should potentially give him the chance to translate his game into the role he would play in the NHL, which would be a fourth-line role. Malott has four fights this season and I’m not one to glorify fighting as the end-all, be-all of physicality, but for a guy who is a Top-3 forward to still have the willingness to go, it says something about the mentality. At 6-3, he has ideal size to play a bottom-six role and his goals regularly come from the dirty areas of the ice. He’s also a dogged puck retriever in the offensive zone specifically and the Kings want their fourth line forechecking and playing on the offensive zone. We’ve seen over the last 10 games what an effective, identity-driven fourth line can bring in terms of energy. With Tanner Jeannot and Alex Turcotte out right now, perhaps there is an opportunity for Malott to show that he can be that type of player as well.

Malott has another season remaining on the two-year contract he signed over the summer at a league-minimum salary-cap hit. There’s always room for a player in that mold to make the NHL roster, especially for a guy who has proven himself to be effective in a fourth-line role. Never know when in a player’s career that opportunity comes. Perhaps now could be the time for Jeff Malott.

From the team’s official release –

Malott, 28, has skated in 61 games for Ontario this season while serving as alternate captain, notching 23 goals and 51 points (23-28=51) with five power-play goals, two game-winning goals, 80 penalty minutes (PIM) and a plus-17 rating as part of his second career 50-point campaign.

Prior to signing with the Kings on July 1, 2024, Malott spent the majority of the past four seasons with the Manitoba Moose, the Winnipeg Jets’ AHL affiliate. Last year, the 6-5, 210-pound forward produced his best professional season, establishing career-marks in assists (30) and points (22-30=52) with 66 penalty minutes (PIM) in 70 games played for his third consecutive 40-point campaign. Malott has recorded 208 points (105-103=208) and a plus-34 rating in 298 career regular-season AHL games between Ontario and Manitoba and has added two goals in 12 Calder Cup Playoff matchups.

Undrafted out of college, Malott signed with the Winnipeg organization in 2020 and made his NHL debut on March 20, 2022, against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Waterdown, Ontario native played four seasons for Cornell University (NCAA) in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), helping the Big Red to regular-season conference titles in 2018 and 2020 and served as team captain his senior year in 2019-20. In 114 career games played for Cornell, Malott finished with 53 points (24-29=53) and a plus-26 rating