Heading into what will be Ontario’s only preseason game before next weekend’s 2024-25 campaign opener, the biggest questions aren’t centered on who will play on Saturday night, it’s all about how many players they still have in camp.
On one hand, there aren’t really roster limits in the AHL, so there isn’t a hard date to cut down necessarily (like there is in the NHL). However, coaches Marco Sturm, Chris Hajt, and Brad Schuler are likely looking to zero in on their final roster decisions by giving a few guys a chance to audition for spots tonight vs. the Gulls.
Meanwhile, goaltending coach Adam Brown probably has the easiest job at the moment. He knows exactly who his No. 1 guy is going to be come opening night: it’s the returning Erik Portillo — fresh off of signing a new three-year contract extension with the Kings.
Portillo is coming off a rookie season that saw his workload increase as the 2023-24 campaign wore along. While Ontario used four different players in net, he led the team with 39 regular season starts, along with all eight playoff games. His 24 wins were second best in the AHL among all first-year goalies, while his .918 save percentage was fourth best (and sixth best when looking at all goalies, regardless of experience level).
Much like their parent club, Ontario has seen a bevy of roster turnover. Guys like Alex Turcotte, Akil Thomas, Andre Lee, and Brandt Clarke have graduated to the NHL. Additionally, former captain TJ Tynan has signed elsewhere.
We broke it all down here:
Sturm has quite a few new weapons to work with on both sides of the puck. Some of the Kings prospects who have graduated to the AHL this season include Kaleb Lawrence and Angus Booth. The latter was especially impressive during Development Camp in July and last month’s Rookie Faceoff tournament. We’ll be monitoring his ongoing development, as he jumps up from the QMJHL junior ranks to pro hockey.
Our lineup below is a guestimate at best. It’s especially difficult to project line combinations and D-pairings when there are several roster pieces still in flux. To be clear, The Reign are holding 11 extra forwards and six extra defensemen at the moment, that’s nearly enough to ice a completely separate team. About the only things we’ve really heard is that Lawrence should be playing center and Portillo will most likely play the whole game.
Big Decisions Ahead
Management still needs to decide what to do with defenseman Jakub Dvorak and forward Koehn Ziemmer this season. Both players are eligible to play in the AHL or other leagues.
Zimmer talked about his situation during an interview here.
And the Dvorak Dilemma was reviewed here:
Without any concrete knowledge one way or the other just yet, if we had to speculate, we’d assume Ziemmer will head back to the WHL shortly and Dvorak will stay with the Reign for at least another month before a decision is reached. Again, that’s not confirmed as of now.
REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. GULLS
Hudon – Gawdin – Chromiak
Malott – Wise – Brodzinski
Pinelli – Helenius – Ward
Jamsen – Lawrence – Ziemmer
Moverare – Walsh
Dvorak – Hicketts
Booth – Berge
Portillo (starter)
Hay
Other roster options include: (F) Caderoth, Doty, Element, Madden, Moynihan, Olson, Parker-Jones, Poisson, Savoie, Singleton, Young (D) Krebs, Krygier, Millar, Rowe, Supryka, Walsh (G) Ingham, McKay
Puck drop is scheduled for 6:00 pm Pacific Time and the game can be viewed on AHL TV.
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