In just a couple of weeks, the Los Angeles Kings are expected to begin the mini camp portion of the training camp schedule this fall and going into the upcoming 2025-26 season. The Kings begin rookie camp later this week, including multiple days of practice and two games in the 2025 Golden State Rookie Faceoff against the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks.
Camp begins for the Los Angeles Kings later this week
Whittling down the roster from the roughly 50 or 60 players expected to be invited to the Kings rookie camp and training camp will be an early task for head coach Jim Hiller and the rest of the LA coaching staff before the preseason in a couple of weeks.
Getting the projected roster for the upcoming season down to just roughly two dozen players for the Kings will require some players to be sent down to the AHL affiliate Ontario Reign and the OHL. Some players on two-way or entry-level contracts must clear waivers, which means the Kings can risk potentially having another NHL team claim those players before clearing down to the AHL.
An important part of roster management is knowing which players should be sent down and which ones could end up being claimed by another team in the NHL.
Samuel Helenius, C
Center Samuel Helenius will be fighting for a spot on the opening-night roster for the Kings in training camp and the preseason in the coming weeks and months. Helenius is expected to compete with Alex Turcotte and Akil Thomas for the role of the fourth-line center for the Kings this upcoming season in the Pacific Division.
Probably the most unlikely of the three players on this list for the Kings who could potentially be sent through waivers to the AHL and the Reign this upcoming season is Helenius at the center position. Given Helenius' combination of proven experience playing over 40 NHL games this past regular season for the Kings, and his size at 6-foot-6, he makes a lot of sense to keep on the projected roster.
Pheonix Copley, G
It feels like a guaranteed expectation that the Kings have a solid goalie tandem in the AHL in Ontario for the Reign this upcoming season with veteran Pheonix Copley and top LA prospect Erik Portillo.
While Portillo is probably the more potent option for the Kings to scout in the net in the future, Copley is a known commodity for LA. Copley started over 40 regular season games for the Kings in the past few seasons (since 2022-23) in the West, including a couple of shutouts in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
Jacob Moverare, D
There are a couple of young defensemen for the Kings competing for one roster spot as the seventh defender on the projected roster for Hiller and LA going into training camp and the preseason this fall. Kyle Burroughs and Jacob Moverare are expected to compete for the spot as the seventh defenseman on the Kings' roster for this upcoming season in the West.
Hiller and staff need to decide if they want to keep seven or eight defensemen on the roster for this upcoming season.
Moverare is the younger and more unproven of the two defensemen that the Kings could potentially send down to the minors if Hiller and staff decide to keep seven defenders on the blue line this season in 2025-26. Burroughs also gives the Kings the ability to have a right-handed shot and a bigger and more physical presence on the blue line to provide valuable depth at the position.
For the combination of the proven experience and physicality, I could see Burroughs getting the edge over Moverare regarding which defenseman would stay in the NHL with the Kings roster as the seventh blue-liner this season.