Which LA Kings Prospects Are Contending For Roster Spots?
It is officially the lull of the offseason which means it’s time to discuss LA Kings prospects who will be challenging for roster spots this season and where each of them will most likely end up!
Gabriel Vilardi – If you were to open a dictionary printed in 2018 to the word Dominant you would find a picture of Gabriel Vilardi. The LA Kings haven’t gone wrong with a number 11 draft pick in recent history (Jonathan Bernier ‘06 and Anze Kopitar ‘05) and it seems like that streak will continue with this pick.
All we need to know is that Vilardi was projected to be a top 3-5 pick by NHL Central Scouting but due to his speed, or lack thereof, he dropped into the LA Kings lap at 11. As I watched him at prospect camp in early July I could see a clear difference between him and the other prospects.
He looked effortless, the puck always seemed to find his stick, his shot sounded hard enough to shatter the plexiglass behind the net, and he held a veteran presence despite being one of the younger prospects.
Vilardi was the third top scorer on his junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs, in scoring this season. I can already read your comments “If he’s so dominant and as great as you make him out to be why wasn’t he the top scorer on his team?!?” and to that, I respond…
Gabriel Vilardi only played 32 games this season and still managed 58 points, if you scale that to the next two players who scored more than him (87 pts in 68 gp and 85 pts in 67 gp respectively)
Gabriel Vilardi might have scored around 123 points which would have made him the OHL’s leading scorer.
I see him being slotted in a 3rd forward role splitting time in the circle with fellow 1st rounder Adrian Kempe and Alex Iafallo on the other side for a fast and young energy line which could grow into a dangerous second line as the older players move on.
Verdict: Vilardi will be on the first year of his Entry Level Contract but the LA Kings have a 9 game period to decide if they want to keep him up on the big squad for the full season.
The way ELC’s work is that the NHL club can have a good 9 game look at a player who hasn’t played pro and decide if they will send that player back to juniors or play pro.
Once Vilardi plays his 10th NHL game he will officially be playing off the first year of his contract regardless of if he gets sent back to his Junior team or gets injured.
Expect him to make the team this year.
Kale Clague – Kale Clague could be the sleeper pick this year. Clague caught my eye at the WJC 2017. Though on paper it didn’t look like an impressive outing (7gp 0g 2a 2pts) I noticed it was the little things he did well (His skating is incredible and he has an NHL caliber shot to name a few).
I’ve kept a closer eye on his development than any other prospect. The kid is an assist machine.
Clague has never scored less than 40 points in a season and in his most recent split between the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Moose Jaw Warriors Clague scored 11g 60a and 71pts making him the third highest scoring Defenceman in the league despite playing 9-18 fewer games than those who scored more than him.
Again if we adjust Clague’s stats to the highest amount of games played amongst the top 5 Defensive point getters Clague scores a league-leading 95 points 15 more than the top scoring defenseman.
So that’s now two LA Kings prospects who -if it weren’t for their shortened seasons- would have led their league in their respective positions in points. For a reference compare Clague’s 71 points in 54 games to Doughty’s 50 points in 58 games.
Those are big shoes to fill and we don’t know if he’ll be able to produce at the NHL level yet but these statistics show promise!
Verdict: Clague has 3 years on his ELC He will get a look if there’s an injury but he will most likely spend his year in Ontario. I currently have him slotted in behind another defensive prospect for this season based solely off of their contracts. Expect him to make the LA Kings roster full time in 2019-2020.
Jonny Brodzinski – Jonny Brodzinski was brought up along with Adrian Kempe and Paul LaDue as the LA Kings seem to like to bring prospects up in groups (King/Nolan 2012, Toffoli/Pearson/Vey 2014 etc.) however during his appearances he only amassed 4 goals and 8 points.
This will likely be his last chance to show Rob Blake and company that he’s worth the permanent spot that eluded him last season.
While Kempe has logged top 6 minutes with the big boys Brodzinski has struggled at times to crack the line-up playing an average of 9:30 TOI/Game over 35 games in 2017/2018.
At times this season Jonny has shown echoes of his dynamic offensive game but has struggled to keep it consistent. This makes Brodzinski’s case a difficult one to deal with because in the AHL he has scored 107 points in 153 games compared to his 8 points in 41 games with the LA Kings.
He has to wow the front office this season if he wants a chance to become an NHL regular because at 25 his window may be closing.
Verdict: Brodzinski is in the final year of his entry-level contract. He will become an RFA with Arbitration rights on July 1st, 2019 unless the LA Kings choose to extend him. This is a contract year and Brodzinski has to perform.
Cracking the lineup won’t be as difficult as last year with fringe NHL players like Andreoff being traded and Mitchell not being resigned so he can spend his season on 3rd or 4th line wing but his future is in his own hands.
Michael Amadio – Like Brodzinski, Amadio hasn’t really had the chance to find his footing in the NHL just yet. Earning his first call-up last season to the LA Kings Amadio wasn’t a disappointment for the time and linemates he was appointed.
In his final year of juniors in the OHL Amadio posted 50 goals and 98 points in 68 games for the North Bay Battalion. He has been utilized as a 4th line centerman and the role he’s being fit into reminds me a lot, and I mean a LOT, of former King Jarret Stoll.
He is a reliable centerman, his FO% was 43.5% with the LA Kings but we can only expect that to get better as he fits into a more secure role with the big boys club.
Amadio will be one of the Centermen you can put out there leading by one goal with under a minute left and trust him to shut it down.
With the LA Kings not resigning Torrey Mitchell, Amadio now has a better chance to play Center and Wing in the bottom six most likely splitting time with Nate Thompson for his final year on his current contract and ultimately taking over the position.
Verdict: Amadio will play the full regular season with the LA Kings. Expect him to bounce between Center and Wing in the bottom 6 with a chance to be a second line winger if the LA Kings see it fit to shake things up.
Danny Brickley – Danny Brickley is the most recent prospect to play his first NHL game as an LA King and he didn’t go unnoticed. Brickley is currently a point per game player (1 game played 1 assist) and if he can keep that up he is going to fit in very very well with this LA Kings team. All joking aside, Brickley looked good in the sheltered minutes of his 1 NHL game last season but that game meant a LOT. That game is what persuaded Brickley to join the LA Kings, no other team would have allowed him to burn a year off of his contract if he was signed and the LA Kings did.
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Brickley is a good cheap asset for this season and he numbs the pain of losing Christian Folin to free agency. Though he isn’t the point scorer that Clague is, Brickley is reliable on both sides of the puck and garnered almost at a point per game in the NCAA last season.
I’d expect to see him as a 6-7 Defenceman this season but he will move up the depth chart. He has to beat out teammates like Kurtis MacDermid, Oscar Fantenberg, and Paul LaDue.
Verdict: Brickley will be on the LA Kings final roster heading into the regular season but will most likely find himself in a position like Fantenberg, LaDue, and MacDermid did last season.
He has the opportunity to surpass them. However, like Fantenberg and MacDermid, Brickley is a Left-Hand shot so you will more likely to see Paul LaDue in the line up as a right shot offensive defenseman.
Expect Brickley to play 10-20 games this season with the LA Kings, hone his skills in Ontario and prepare himself to make a push alongside Kale Clague for the 2019-2020 season.
To end this article I am going to offer up a simple Depth chart to show where certain players and prospects I expect to make the LA Kings stand as of today by skill. (These are not my projected lines!)
Forwards:
| Ilya Kovalchuk | Anze Kopitar | Tyler Toffoli |
| Tanner Pearson | Jeff Carter | Dustin Brown |
| Alex Iafallo | Adrien Kempe | Gabe Vilardi |
| Kyle Clifford | Michael Amadio | Trevor Lewis |
| Rasmus Kupari* | Nate Thompson | Jonny Brodzinski |
| Aidan Dudas* | Jaret Anderson-Dolan | Akil Thomas* |
Defense:
| Drew Doughty | Jake Muzzin |
| Alec Martinez | Dion Phaneuf |
| Derek Forbort | Paul LaDue |
| Kale Clague | Danny Brickley |
| Kurtis MacDermid | Oscar Fantenberg |
Goaltenders:
| Jonathan Quick |
| Jack Campbell (Cap hit is lower than Petersen) |
| Cal Petersen |
| Peter Budaj |
* – 2018 draft, we don’t know their capability/ceilings.
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