LA Kings: Three prospects who could have impact at NHL in 2020-2021
While it won’t happen immediately, several players from the prospect pool could see significant time for the LA Kings in the 2020-2021 season. Which ones could have a major impact on the team’s trajectory?
The LA Kings opening night roster is mostly set, except a couple of lesser training camp battles that will be important to monitor. The team’s three lines are straight forward, but we’ll see if Jaret Anderson-Dolan gets the nod as the 4C this year, converts to the wing, or some combination throughout the first few weeks or so.
Carl Grundstrom is expected to get a look, who was recently loaned to IF Bjorkloven of the Allsvenskan. And per reports, he has three goals in his last two games, which is encouraging for both Grundstrom and the LA Kings, who struggled to score in the 2019-2020 campaign.
Kings Prospects 9/18:
— The Armchair Scout (He/Him) (@Davidenkness) September 19, 2020
Carl Grundstrom had 3 points (2 G 1 A)
Bulat Shafigullin was scoreless.
#LAKings prospect update 9/19:
— The Armchair Scout (He/Him) (@Davidenkness) September 20, 2020
Carl Grundstrom had a goal.
Jordan Spence had a goal and assist in preseason action
Matt Luff is another player who may make the opening night roster, and he’ll need to make the most of his time. After tallying eight goals with three assists in 33 games during the 2018-2019 season, Luff had a disappointing showing last year, lighting the lamp only once while chipping in four assists in 18 games.
He’s been a consistent goal-scorer for the Ontario Reign, but Luff has yet to prove consistency at the NHL level. And at 23 years of age and a wave of talented prospects on the way, Luff is running out of time.
As the season progresses, there may be opportunities for some of the more recent draft picks to make their way to Staples Center for a chance to prove themselves, which will be both important and exciting for the LA Kings future.
Here are three players that could be up with the team this year and have a strong impact.
Arthur Kaliyev
Drafted with the 33rd overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, Kaliyev was one of the more underrated talents in the draft. He could have gone in the first round but fell into the LA Kings waiting arms in the second round. In his draft year, the 18-year-old tallied 51 goals with 51 assists for 102 points in 67 games for the Hamilton Bulldogs of the OHL.
He finished second in the league with 20 power play goals that season and followed that up with 16 PPG in ten fewer games.
He nearly matched his 2018-2019 point total and tallied four goals with two assists for the USA U20 team in the World Juniors. He’s an absolute sniper from the point and can set up goals, too, as demonstrated by his lofty assist totals.
Kaliyev signed his three-year entry-level contract in June, and I suspect that he’ll make a difficult decision for the Kings to send him to Ontario with a strong training camp. That being said, should he start to rack up the point totals as he did in the OHL, look for a 19-year-old Kaliyev to make his NHL debut not too long into the season.
Samuel Fagemo
Not long after finding Kaliyev, the Kings snagged Samuel Fagemo with the 50th overall pick in last year’s draft. He went undrafted as an 18-year-old but had a solid bounceback year. The 19-year-old winger tallied ten goals with four assists for 14 points in only eight games while logging an absurd 31.3 shot percentage for Frölunda HC J20.
The same year, he scored 14 goals with 11 assists in 42 games for Frölunda HC of the SHL. He signed his three-year entry-level contract a month after being drafted and was loaned to Frölunda this past season, where he scored 13 goals with nine assists.
The past two seasons, he hasn’t been a huge factor in the powerplay, logging two PPG each campaign, but he continues to shoot the puck at nearly a 13 percent clip.
He’s come a long way in a short amount of time and was outstanding for Team Sweden in the World Juniors, tallying eight goals with five assists in only seven games. Fagemo’s scoring totals resemble that of a first-round pick, and he can be a major asset to help with the Kings scoring woes.
Akil Thomas
The LA Kings have seemingly struck gold with their second-round picks lately. So the fact that they have three in next month’s draft makes me really excited, especially if they find another Akil Thomas, who was taken with the 51st overall pick in 2018.
In his draft year, Thomas scored 22 goals with 59 assists for 81 points in 68 games for the Niagra IceDogs of the OHL. He’s a terrific leader, donning letters the past three seasons, including team captain for Niagra last year. In January, he was acquired by the Peterborough Petes, where he continued his OHL dominance, scoring nine goals with 31 assists in only 22 games.
He scored the Golden Goal for Team Canada in the World Juniors and will start the year in Ontario for new head coach John Wroblewski. He’s so good with the puck in his hands, displaying terrific vision and a decisive shot.
Similar to Kaliyev, should he start piling up points, the 20-year-old will be promoted to the NHL. The question, though is where to play him. As a center, the Kings will have to get creative finding playing time for him, but there is the option to convert to the wing where more options might present themself.