LA Kings defensive prospect Jordan Spence had a big week, tallying one goal and three assists in this week’s prospect report.
Jordan Spence continues to turn heads in the QMJHL. The LA Kings fourth-round pick in 2019 has been a point-producing machine since being traded from Moncton to Val-d’Or in early January. To be fair, though, he was a point-producing machine prior to the trade as well.
It took him some time to adjust, but in just 17 games, Spence has accumulated the second-most points among the Foreurs’ defensemen. He tallied a goal — his fifth with Val-d’Or — and an assist in Wednesday’s 9-0 victory. He followed that with two more assists on Friday. The Foreurs are on a six-game winning streak, and Spence has seven points over that span.
Here’s what the other prospects were up to this past week.
- Alex Laferriere: Two games for Des Moines this week. The LA Kings’ 2020 third-round pick recorded a goal on Friday and registered six shots on net Saturday. Laferriere has 20 goals and 38 points in 38 games this season.
- Kim Nousiainen: Two assists in KalPa’s 4-1 win on Friday.
- Lias Andersson: Two goals in three games for the Reign this week for Andersson. We recently touched on John Wroblewski’s post-game thoughts on trying to find the delicate balance of making Andersson a complete two-way player.
- Quinton Byfield: The second overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft scored a goal in Wednesday’s game, marking five consecutive games in which he lit the lamp. He saw that streak come to an end on Friday but recorded two assists in the Reign’s 3-2 win on Friday. Byfield was scratched on Saturday with the stomach flu.
- Rasmus Kupari: Kupari has been fairly quiet since returning from his cup of coffee in the NHL. In three games last week, Kupari recorded one assist.
- Arthur Kaliyev: Kaliyev was quiet this week, failing to record a point. He had six SOG in three games.
- Akil Thomas: Our star player last week, Thomas tallied two more assists this week. He’s up to six goals and seven assists in 22 AHL games this season.
- Sean Durzi: Durzi had a good week with the Reign. After tallying a three-point game last week, the 22-year-old blueliner recorded a goal and an assist in three games.
- Brock Faber: Faber and the three-seeded Golden Gophers topped University of Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday night. Faber had five assists, and a scoring change took a goal away from him. The Gophers were eliminated from the NCAA tournament on Sunday night.
- Helge Grans: Grans only played in 0:34 of Malmo’s 3-2 loss on Sunday. We have checked in with our most recent guest on the Hockey Royalty Podcast, Sixten Funqvist, for an update on Grans. (Funqvist was able to tell me the box score was accurate, but Grans doesn’t appear to be injured. He noted that Grans was walked on pretty badly for a goal, so perhaps it was coaches decision to sit him)
- Alex Turcotte: Since returning from injury, Alex Turcotte has looked every bit of fifth overall pick. In three games this week, Turcotte had an empty-netter goal on Saturday and two assists overall. He’s up to two goals and eight assists in 16 AHL games.
- Boko Imama: It was difficult to top his dominating fight last week, but Imama recorded a goal and an assist in the Reign’s 6-2 win on Wednesday.
- Mikey Eyssimont: 1G, 1A in three games, and 7 SOG on Saturday
- Aidan Dudas: Dudas was held scoreless this week while being dropped in the forward lineup. Coach Wroblewski recently indicated how Dudas can take the next step in his development.
- Kale Clague: Clague recorded his first goal of the year on Friday in the Reign’s 3-2 overtime victory. The defenseman also tallied four shots on net.
- Lukas Parik: Parik made three straight starts for the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL this week. He allowed four goals on 23 shot attempts on Thursday but followed that, stopping 20-of-22 shots and 22-of-24 shots in Friday and Saturday’s wins, respectively.
See below for more on Clague.