Once the calendar flips to June, two hockey items instantly come to mind — the NHL Draft and Development Camp. Fortunately for the Kings, both events will be held in Los Angeles later this month.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve already posted eight player profiles leading into the Draft. These are players the Kings are likely to consider for their first-round selection on Friday, June 27 (study up, what are you waiting for). And, of course, we’ll have our annual Draft Predictions article up soon.
For now, let’s turn our attention to Development Camp.
The annual prospect-palooza will return to Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo for four days, beginning on Monday, June 30 and wrapping up on Thursday, July 3 (per various Mayor’s Manor sources). Although the official schedule hasn’t been released yet, we’ll assume it will the same format as years past, including separate morning sessions for the forwards and defensemen, followed by an afternoon scrimmage. The annual highlight of the event, the black and white scrimmage, will most likely take place mid-morning on Thursday.
All of the Kings top prospects are expected to attend, including the North American debut of recently signed defenseman Kirill Kirsanov. Who is he and why should you care? We recently published this article with comments from his coach and mentor, NHL legend Igor Larionov:
As usual, the camp is expected to be run by LA’s development coaches, including Matt Greene, Jarret Stoll, Sean O’Donnell, and Mike Donnelly. Former Ontario Reign coach Marco Sturm was in attendance as an observer (and Mike Stothers had attended in the past, as well). We’ll have to see if the Reign have a new coach hired in time and if he will attend in some capacity.
So, which prospects will be attending?
Typically, Dev Camp is largely comprised of Kings prospects from the prior three years (in this case, 2022-24), plus the current year’s draftees (2025). That eliminates guys like Andre Lee and Martin Chromiak. However, Aatu Jamsen, who was part of the 2020 Draft class is probably still going to attend, as he just completed his first full season in America. Each situation is slightly different.
Below, we’ve put together a rough draft of the likely attendees. Keep in mind, this list will grow by a few names selected at the 2025 NHL Draft, along with a small handful of camp invitees.
KINGS 2025 DEV CAMP ROSTER PREVIEW
Forwards
56 Ryan Conmy – Boston College
57 Kenny Connors – Ontario Reign
64 Liam Greentree – Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
74 Aatu Jamsen – Ontario Reign
88 Kaleb Lawrence – Ontario Reign
53 Jared Wright – Ontario Reign
89 Koehn Ziemmer – Ontario Reign
90 James Reeder – Denver University
More on six of the Kings top prospects at forward can be found in these videos:
Defensemen
24 Angus Booth – Ontario Reign
54 Jakub Dvorak – Ontario Reign
95 Kirill Kirsanov – Ontario Reign
60 Otto Salin – Ontario Reign
59 Jack Sparkes – Clarkson University
80 Jared Woolley – London Knights (OHL)
More on three of the Kings top defensive prospects can be found here:
Goalies
40 Carter George – Owen Sound Attack (OHL)
85 Hampton Slukynsky – Fargo Force (USHL)
More on the Kings top goaltending prospects can be found here:
Camp Invitees
For those unfamiliar, invitees aren’t actually property of the team. Typically, these players fall into three categories – undrafted players who are committed to attend college the following season, players who are there as a favor to somebody in the organization, and Canadian junior players who somehow slipped through the NHL Draft. While they’re technically free agents in most cases, that’s often only true for a very short period of time. If they’re still Draft eligible, they need to be signed by a specific date in October or they’ll go back into next year’s NHL Draft.
Usually, the players invited to Dev Camp are also asked to return for Rookie Camp in September (unless they’re going to college, as those players aren’t eligible to return — see rules explanation here). It’s not uncommon for NHL teams to even sign an invitee or two to a contract following an impressive performance at Dev Camp.
Usually, the Kings have around 4-7 invitees at Dev Camp. As of now, the only name we’ve reported as an invitee is Grant Slukynsky, who scored some huge goals for Western Michigan this season in their run to the NCAA National Championship. And he’s Hampton’s older brother too.
Last season, one of the goalies invited was Boston University freshman Max Lacroix (interview here). Yes, the son of former Kings forward Lacroix (interview here). Perhaps he may return, we’ll see.
2025 Draft Class
As noted above, the Kings will select their 2025 Draft class just prior to Dev Camp getting underway. They currently have seven selections, beginning with No. 24 in Round 1. The Kings are without a second-round pick, yet they have two in the seventh. History suggests there will likely be some movement before all is said and done. Regardless, all 2025 selections will be invited and should help round out the final Dev Camp roster.
For additional opportunities to see some of the Kings top prospects in action, be sure to check out the two articles linked below.
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