Nearly every NHL player of significance has played in the World Junior Championship, hockey’s best tournament. While not on the same level as that two-week event which occurs every year just after Christmas, six Western Conference teams have been building something quite special now for many years. Taking place in September, the NHL Rookie Faceoff is now comprised of six teams — including the Kings, Ducks, Sharks, and Golden Knights. And it will be in Los Angeles this year!
Officially re-launched in 2018, roots of the annual preseason tournament go back more than 20 years ago — at something born in Los Angeles and dubbed the Pacific Division Shootout in 2003 (more on that later in this article). Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Joe Pavelski are just some of the players who participated in those early events.
In more recent times, nearly every significant Kings prospect imaginable over the past seven years has suited up for games at the Rookie Faceoff, including: Mikey Anderson, Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, Alex Laferriere, Jordan Spence, Akil Thomas, Alex Turcotte, Sammy Fagemo, Arthur Kaliyev, Andre Lee, Martin Chromiak, Sean Durzi, Jakub Dvorak, and Koehn Ziemmer.
2024 DATES & SCHEDULE
Building on our earlier reports, Mayor’s Manor has now confirmed the official dates for this year’s festivities are scheduled for Friday, Sept. 13 – Monday, Sept. 16 at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo.
While the official schedule has not been finalized just yet, the expectation is for each team to play games on Friday, Saturday, and Monday; with Sunday serving as off day. In years past, the games were typically played around 1pm, 4pm, and 7pm daily.
PLAYERS PARTICIPATING IN 2024
Nearly all of the Kings non-college prospects will be scheduled to play, including:
Forwards
64 Liam Greentree – Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
79 Samuel Helenius – Ontario Reign
74 Aatu Jamsen – Pelicans (Liiga)
88 Kaleb Lawrence – London (OHL)
38 Francesco Pinelli – Ontario Reign
89 Koehn Ziemmer – Prince George (WHL)
Defensemen
81 Angus Booth – Shawinigan (QMJHL)
54 Jakub Dvorak – Swift Current (WHL)
43 Matthew Mania – Flint (OHL)
60 Otto Salin – HIFK Helsinki (Liiga)
80 Jared Wooley – London Knights (OHL)
Goalies
1 Erik Portillo – Ontario Reign
40 Carter George – Owen Sound (OHL)
In addition to the Kings top prospects, look for dozens of other high-profile prospects to participate, including:
San Jose Sharks – Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Sam Dickinson, Quinton Musty
Anaheim Ducks – Stlian Solberg, Leo Carlsson, Pavel Mintyukov, Beckett Sennecke, Nathan Gaucher, Cutter Gauthier
Utah Hockey Club – Tig Iginla, Cole Beaudoin
KOPITAR & HISTORY
From our article earlier this year:
Just like the Kings held an outdoor game in Las Vegas decades before those type of events became all the rage around the league, origins of the Rookie Faceoff can actually be traced back to the Pacific Division Shootout, an event initially hosted by Los Angeles in 2003. It was a four-team affair back then and following that inaugural tournament, Anaheim (2004) and San Jose (2005) played host before things returned to the Kings training facility one final time in 2006.
It was the Pacific Division Shootout that laid much of the groundwork for what has now become a much bigger attraction rebranded as the NHL Rookie Faceoff. Even in its earlier inception, though, those early gathering of rookies were no slouch. They included several players who went on to have rather successful NHL careers.
Among the players who participated in 2003 was an 18-year-old Dustin Brown, in what was some of his first real exposure to the team’s operations. He was drafted by the club only a few months prior, taken 13th overall in the first round.
In year two, the event was hosted by Anaheim. Brown was back for his second Shootout. The prior year, he played 31 games for the Kings before being shutdown with an ankle injury. Following the 2004 event, the NHL Lockout wiped out the regular season. However, not for Brown and several other Kings prospects. He was sent to AHL Manchester, where he scored 29 goals and was essentially a point-per-game player (74 points in 79 games).
As for the Rookie event, LA would again have to settle for second place. Their preliminary games included a 3-2 overtime victory over Anaheim. SoCal native Noah Clarke scored two goals, including the game winner. Petr Kanko had the other Kings goal.
In their second game, the Ducks picked up a 6-2 win over the Sharks. Corey Perry had a goal for Anaheim and Ryan Getzlaf chipped in with four assists.
LA produced more goals than any other team in either the Shootout or Rookie Faceoff history with an 11-2 drubbing of the Coyotes later that same day. Kanko was at it again, scoring four goals and adding an assist for good measure. Clarke also had a multi-point game, notching a goal and an assist.
In another game, it was the Anaheim Mighty Ducks skating to a 7-2 win over the Kings, leaving LA as the bridesmaid once again. Curtis Glencross scored a hat trick to help seal things for the host team. Getzlaf and Dustin Penner also scored for the Ducks.
Anze Kopitar gave people a quick taste of what he could potentially mean for the Kings when he came over to North America for the 2005 Shootout held in San Jose. A few months prior, LA had selected Kopitar 11th overall at the NHL Draft.
For what ended up being the final Shootout, Kopitar returned and was ready to take a run at making the Kings roster. Better yet, he was able to do it in front of the hometown fans, as LA was once again tapped to host the event.
While Kopitar stole all the headlines for LA in 2006, Pavelski was the unlikely star for San Jose. He scored three goals in the tournament, including two in their final game. A seventh-round selection by the Sharks, he was targeted for the AHL that season. However, his play in the tournament caught the eye of Sharks GM Doug Wilson, who said — “He has been very strong on faceoffs all week long. That gets him out on the ice in key situations and getting that experience will help him grow. His game in all areas of the ice is very well-rounded.” Following the tournament, Pavelski would go on to play in only 16 AHL games before a late November call-up.
Ironically enough, ‘Little Joe’ was recalled by the Sharks and made his NHL debut in a 6-3 win over the Kings, scoring his first NHL goal that night too. Pavelski never looked back, going on to play 1,296 NHL games and counting.
In a little more Sharks trivia from that same game against the Kings in Nov. 2006, defenseman Marc-Édouard Vlasic (who has since played over 1,200 NHL games too) scored his first NHL goal that night, as well. Along with Pavelski and Kopitar, that trio had played in the Pacific Division Shootout event just a few months prior and were now well on their way to making their marks on a much bigger stage.
Now having played more games in a Kings uniform — along with two Stanley Cups and numerous NHL trophies to his name — it’s only inevitable that one day Kopitar will be enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame and eventually have his familiar No. 11 jersey retired into the rafters at Cryto.com Arena.
However, in a little-known piece of trivia, he didn’t start out as No. 11. When he first came over for the 2005 Pacific Division Shootout, he wore No. 52 for those small handful of tournament games and a couple of Kings preseason games.
“That first tournament in San Jose; I remember it was like a whole new world for me,” he told Mayor’s Manor earlier today. “Obviously, it was a lot different than playing in a Junior league in Sweden, with all the big, high-ranking prospects and all that stuff. So, it was hard, but it was also an eye-opening experience. That was a fun time.”
When he came back to LA for his second Shootout the following year, Kopitar didn’t have quite the same nerve-racking week as had in 2005.
“In the second one, we hosted,” he began. “I remember, I felt a lot more comfortable the second time around. I had a good tournament and I think that’s why I made the Kings team that year.”
What about that initial No. 52 jersey?
“I’ve always assumed that 52 was assigned to me that first year because I wore No. 25 for our national team,” noted Kopitar.
“Back when I was still wearing a cage at the World Championship,” he added with one of his trademark smirks and a soft chuckle. “Then, the next year, I showed up and they gave me No. 11 right away.”
And apparently, why No. 11 was selected has remained a bit of a mystery, even to this day.
“I kept asking Dean [Lombardi] and Grange [Kings Head Equipment Manager Darren Granger] and nobody could give me a straight answer. That’s it!”
Never one to leave a story without an ending, we reached out to Lombardi a few hours later to ask if he had any recollection at all as to why No. 11 was assigned to Kopitar that year.
“The only thing I can think of is that there were always a limited quantity of numbers available for rookies and the GM was an old school fuddy duddy that did not want any of his players to have numbers in the 80s and 90s because he thought it subtracted from the team-first psyche,” Lombardi responded via text. “To Kopitar’s credit, he never sought to follow the trend of the young upstarts with offensive linemen numbers.”
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