Late June, early July can be one of the craziest times on the entire hockey calendar — and there aren’t even NHL games being contested. It’s a frantic time where the Draft, Development Camps, and Free Agency all converge at nearly the same time. So, after a rather quiet lull in LA for months, things have heated up in a big way.
With several dozen Kings prospects taking to the ice at the team’s training facility on Monday, we’re ready to serve up 10 Tidbits from opening day of Dev Camp 2025.
1. Damn, That Looks Good!
For starters, let’s give some love to the MM team of photographers. They do a wonderful job all season long, covering both the Kings and Reign. With a trio of our talented photographers covering this week’s on-ice activities, they’ve already posted a ton of photos from Monday. Be sure to give them all a follow on Twitter and/or Instagram, respectively:
ALoImages — here and here
Megan Sanders — here and here
Daniel Stopani — here and here
2. Brotherly Love
LA’s No. 2 goaltending prospect Hampton Slukynsky brought along something a little different this time around — his brother. Older sibling Grant is a forward at Western Michigan, where the duo won a National Championship a few months ago. The Kings have had their eye on the latter for several months and he’s in town as a camp invitee.
“I found out mid-season I’d be coming here for my first Development Camp. I thought it’d be a great opportunity to go through this with [Hampton],” Grant told Mayor’s Manor. “Obviously he’s been here before, so to be able to experience this with him. It’s been great so far and just getting to know everyone in the organization has been nothing but first class so far.
They didn’t get paired together though at the hotel. Grant is bunking with Ryan Conmy, while Hampton has his own room. “I guess he wanted a break from me,” Grant quipped. “We’re roommates at school, so the break is good. Ryan and I played together in Sioux City (USHL) too, so it’s fun to catch up with him and kind of relive some of the good memories from back in junior hockey, as well.”
The conversation continued a bit longer, but then Grant wanted to get one important request in. After playing on the same team as his brother during today’s scrimmage, he’d like to switch sides. — “We have two more scrimmages left. I’m hoping I can get one past him just for some bragging rights for the summer. That’d be great!”
3. Lots of Eyes on Conmy
Originally selected at the 2023 NHL Draft, forward Ryan Conmy has returned to LA for his third Dev Camp. Each of the past two summers, he’s been among a small handful of players to universally earn high marks from all the coaches. Does that bring any sort of extra pressure this time around?
“I think these things are supposed to be fun, so I’m coming in with that same mentality,” noted the 20-year-olld winger. “With all these great coaches around too, I’m just trying to take as much as I can. I’m also trying to be a little bit more of a leader as one of the older guys in the room now. I wouldn’t say there’s any pressure, just a lot of fun always coming out here.”
Next season, he’ll be moving over to Boson College after spending his two years of college at New Hampshire (where he was one of their leading goal scorers). The change came after a heavy recruiting battle between BC and Boston University. “It was a tough decision,” Conmy shared. “I have a lot of family up in that area, so I’m super excited for next year. Hopefully we can compete for some championships. Winning is the most fun part of hockey; I think everyone would agree with that. So, being able to do that and showing up to the rink every day with a lot of like-minded guys should be super fun.”
4. The Quiet Rocket
Sneaking up the Kings prospect rankings this season without a lot of fanfare was James Reeder. Even though LA selected him at the 2024 Draft, he wasn’t at camp last year because Denver University likes their incoming hockey freshmen to attend summer school. Thus, Monday was his first opportunity to actually feel like a part of the organization, even though he’s officially been in the pipeline for a year now.
“It sucked missing Dev Camp last year,” he shared, rather honestly. “But it’s been a great experience so far. Just getting on the ice, seeing all the facilities for the Reign and the Kings, and just meeting all the prospects.”
As we started to talk about the fact internal people are talking him up quite a bit, Reeder tried to dismiss the praise with typical hockey commentary — “I’m just keeping to the basics, kind of playing my game, keeping it simple, doing all the small things.”
Showing what a good sport he can be, when we noted how many cliches he just fired off, the 19-year-old winger didn’t waste any time. “Might as well get ’em all in, right?”
As for the first scrimmage, Reeder noted how fast things were moving out on the ice. “I wasn’t expecting that pace coming in,” he said. “It was quick. A lot of guys were out of breath, so I think that little 10-minute intermission for the ice cut helped a lot. That’s kind of what you want to play, though, just a bunch of fast-paced hockey with a lot of skill. It was fun to play.”
5. The Really Important Stuff
Let’s get this out of the way right up front. Liam Greentree just gets it. He’s on top of things.
One of the first things LA’s top prospect wanted to talk about was Dodger hats. Over the last decade or so, Mayor’s Manor has tried to raise the newbies right by getting them set up with a good looking lid. There’s long line of players who have quickly fallen in line – from Tyler Toffoli and Alex Turcotte to Brandt Clarke and Quinton Byfield.
“I have not picked up a Dodgers hat yet, but I will soon,” Greentree put out there right away; almost as if he wanted to get in front of things. “I won’t wait much longer.” We agreed he can’t come back from Rookie Camp in September without one. We’ll see how it goes, stay tuned.
6. Brief Medical Update
Many in attendance were eager to see LA’s top prospect on the ice again after he made a real statement in camp last summer and then followed it up by dominating the OHL during his 2024-25 campaign. Yet, Greentree isn’t fully healthy, so his participation will be somewhat limited this week.
“There was a little bit of [a wrist] issue from the last couple years, a torn ligament, but I had surgery for it and it’s getting better,” Greentree stated. “I’ve been cleared to skate, and I was just cleared to stick handle now too. I should be on the ice a little bit more and get my legs under me. Even though I’m not scrimmaging and really competing here, I’m confident. I’ve been working hard in the gym, and I feel good. Come September, I think I’m going to surprise a lot of people.”
He also offered a small twist to everything today, showing up without his two front teeth. Greentree wished he had a better story, but said it came on a rather routine high-sticking play soon after he returned to Windsor following his time in LA for Rookie Camp last fall.
Now that the Kings have drafted London defenseman Henry Brzustewicz, Greentree was quick to downplay their fight last year in the OHL.
“It wasn’t like a huge fight or something out of hate, it was just to get the crowd going,” he said. It was pretty respectful. We were kind of talking in the box after, and he’s a good guy. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit now too.” Again, Greentree just gets it.
7. THE Jack Hughes
Sunday afternoon wasn’t just the rest day between this year’s NHL Entry Draft and the start of Dev Camp. Mayor’s Manor also took to social media that afternoon to break news of Kings prospect Jack Hughes signing a contract with the organization. That was quite the turnaround from where things stood at the end of his senior season at BU. Nonetheless, he jumped onto the ice Monday and made his mark.
When asked about the pride in scoring the first goal of this year’s camp scrimmage, Kaleb Lawrence didn’t waste any time thinking about an answer.
“Great feeling, and a great play by Jack Hughes,” said Lawrence.
And later, Hughes was called out by coach Jarret Stoll.
8. OHL Scouting Reports
Back to Lawrence for a minute. He played with Jared Woolley in London, and now the Kings have added another Knights defenseman to the prospect pool by drafting Brzustewicz. There’s a bit of a pipeline developing there.
“I played with Henny during my overage year in the OHL and I knew that he had a chance going late in the first round, so I was on the lookout for that,” said the first-year pro. “I think Henny’s a great player. He’s kind of like Wolf [Woolley], he’s pretty steady. They teach them a lot in London, on how to be a pro. So, I think he’s going to be a great player down the road, just like Wolf.”
And on those two having such a bromance?
“Yeah, they’re boys,” Lawrence said with a big smile. “They’re good kids, and they’re going to get really good playing together [next season], really comfortable. That should be good for this organization.”
9. The Wrecking Ball is Back
Koehn Ziemmer is once again ready to wreck some fools.
“I’m pumped to be back coming off a full healthy season was good,” he said. “And joining the Reign at the end of the year was good; that experience of playing pro and kind of dipping the toes in the water. That was a good feeling to just get me prepared for this coming year. There’s a really good compete here, especially for the middle of the summer. This is kind of the point where you ramp it up and start really, really getting after it — skating Lots throughout the weeks, working out twice as much. So, this week is exciting.
Ziemmer went on to say that he didn’t do much chirping after his beautiful goal in the scrimmage. “It was pretty quiet today, but I think on day two and day three I’ll give a little bit more.”
10. More on the Ziemmer Goal
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