We can now officially put a bow on all LA Kings related on-ice activities for at least a few months. When next we see real stuff happening at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, it will be for the NHL Rookie Faceoff in September.
Wednesday brought the end of this year’s Development Camp, an annual gathering of LA’s top prospects — and the only time all year where college players are allowed to come to town and work with the club’s coaching staff.
While the grand finale of a three-day mini-camp came quicker than expected, there were still plenty of memorable moments in today’s scrimmage.
1. Three Stars of the Game Scrimmage
First star goes to forward Ryan Conmy. Kings scouts have been making hay in the late rounds of the NHL Draft for a few years now, yet don’t be fooled by his sixth round slot from last year. The Virginia native went from being one of the top offensive threats in the USHL to one of the top scoring college freshmen in the country in 2023-24. He was all over the puck on Tuesday, causing chaos at both of the ice. He followed that up with scoring a beautiful goal just a minute into the second period on Wednesday. He’s an exciting, dynamic player who is worth watching whenever he hops over the boards.
One of the most interesting things about LA’s Dev Camps the past few years is how they make multiple coaches available to the media. This allows for different perspectives, as guys like Sean O’Donnell, Jarret Stoll, and Glen Murray typically offer insightful thoughts on their experiences working with the couple dozen players in camp.
When it came to Conmy, Murray could hardly contain his excitement.
“He works!” said the Kings longtime Director of Player Development. “He has a real good shot and has a tenacity on the puck. He’ll hold onto the puck, even there are bigger guys on him, and leaning on him. He can spin off. He’s probably done that his whole life, his whole hockey career, and he did that last year. We love the progression with him. He has a couple years of college left, but we’re looking forward to getting him in here and working with him more [down the road].”
If you want to get to know more about Conmy, he was a guest on Kings Of The Podcast, listen here.
2. Second Star Casts a Big Shadow
It’s really too bad we didn’t get a picture of the primary goal scorers together today. Conmy is listed a generous 5-foot-10, while Kaleb Lawerence is listed at 6-foot-6 but is probably closer to 6-foot-7. We wrote about the latter during this year’s Memorial Cup quite a bit. Even with all the extra hockey he played this season, it didn’t slow the big man down one bit. He was a force on the ice today and had a lot of fun in the process.
Lawrence was one of the head-turners during today’s afternoon scrimmage. Every shift was notable, as he carried play within his line, executed a hard-checking forecheck, and seemed to bring an exciting mix of playmaking and shooting in a more consistent way than last year’s camp.
Lawrence from Ziemmer
Black 1-0
Note: Lawrence has been buzzing all day, going coast to coast, hitting guys, doing it all.
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) July 3, 2024
3. Patience May Pay Off
As interesting of a prospect as Lawrence is, Murray reminded everybody — just because he’s turning pro this summer, it could be a longer development cycle than some of the team’s other prospects. But, the wait could be worth it.
4. Third Star via the QMJHL
You never know what you’re going to get with a camp invitee, but goaltender Samuel St-Hilaire seems to have made the most of his opportunity. As we reported previously, he’s one of three invitees the Kings are interested in potentially signing at some point — a time that may come sooner rather than later considering what they were able to see up close and personal over the past few days. The kid is a battler. He competes, he challenges shooters — and most importantly — he stops pucks.
From yesterday’s brief write-up on St-Hilaire of the Sherbrooke Phoenix:
We’ll have more on him up in the weeks ahead.
5. We’re Talking Boston, Baby!
Sticking with the netminders, just a teaser item here — we’ll have a full feature up on Max Lacroix later. He’s from Boston University, the son of former Kings forward Eric Lacroix, and ended up a goalie because of a guy named Peter Budaj.
Interested yet? We thought you would be, so we’ll bring you the whole story soon.
6. If You Know, You Know
Word to the wise, don’t show up at Dev Camp (or training camp, for that matter) without your Dodgers cap. The good ones figure it out quickly.
You know he learned how to play goalie with the aid of a pitching machine, right? If not, check out Hunter Slukynsky on Kings Of The Podcast. He joined the show last week for an in-depth Dev Camp Preview.
7. Otto is A-OK
Somewhat lost in all the hype of some of the Kings other prospects is defenseman Otto Salin. While maybe not the biggest blueliner in the group, LA’s fifth rounder from the 2022 Draft was easily noticed. Salin used every bit of his 5-foot-11 frame to battle in drills and exert himself throughout the week’s scrimmages. Not known for being incredibly offensive, the Finnish defender was seen a handful of times crashing the net-front and highly engaged in the offensive zone. Earlier in the day, during board drills lead by Greene and O’Donnell, Salin took pointers from the two heavy blueliners and had no fear in putting his body on fellow teammates like the towering 6-foot-8, 238-pound Jack Sparkes.
8. Greentree, Greentree, Greentree
There’s been a lot of attention around Liam Greentree this week, and for good reason. When you’re selected in the first round of the NHL Draft, you instantly garner intrigue. For a player at his first Dev Camp in LA, Greentree handled himself well, both on and off the ice.
There’s isn’t much not to like about the player who LA took 26th overall. Going that deep into round one, though, there’s often an assumption that something is missing from the 18-year old’s game. And if there is, then it wasn’t on display during the three-day camp, where Greentree consistently made an impact in drills and the scrimmages. He showed a willingness to grind hard and not give up on plays, and throughout Wednesday’s scrimmage, LA’s newest blue-chip prospect commanded the ice nearly every shift. Greentree will be heading back to the OHL this season to build off his sophomore campaign of 90 points (36G, 54A) in 64 games.
One of the more interesting aspects to his game this week was the diversity displayed in the two scrimmages.
Small thing…
Yesterday, Greentree seemed to defer quite a bit to his linemates (fellow high end prospects).
Today, he's playing with a pair of camp invitees and is driving his line with a shoot-first approach.#GoKingsGo
@aloimages pic.twitter.com/Dka1caMji9
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) July 3, 2024
It was an assessment Murray also agreed with after the game.
9. Insert Something Other than The Wright Stuff
When Mark Yannetti was on Kings Of The Podcast recently he had high praise for Denver University forward Jared Wright.
Seems Murray is a fan too.
10. Bring on the Rookie Faceoff
Sans the college prospects, who aren’t allowed back once their fall semester starts, look for all the other Kings prospects at Dev Camp to return for Rookie Camp in September. The highlight of that event will the 2024 NHL Rookie Faceoff tournament, which will be hosted by the Kings at TSPC. Five other teams will show up with all of their best prospects — including the Ducks, Golden Knights, and Sharks. It should be a fun-filled four days and a great way to kick off the 2024-25 season.
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