This past season got off to a slow start scoring the puck for the former Los Angeles Kings fifth-round draft pick in 2020 (128th overall), Martin Chromiak. With the Kings' AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, Chromiak scored just one goal in the season's first dozen games.
Chromiak's scoring struggles continued past the turn of the calendar year for the Reign in the AHL. That was until a lineup adjustment by Ontario head coach Marco Sturm turned the season around for Chromiak offensively putting the puck in the net for the Reign.
Between late February and the end of the AHL postseason for the Reign, Chromiak scored double-digit goals and multiple game-winning goals. Chromiak set career highs in goals and total points in the minor leagues in his career since he was drafted by the Kings five years ago in 2020.
Martin Chromiak 2024-25 Los Angeles Kings player season recap
2024-25 season stats (Ontario Reign AHL): 69 games played, 18 goals, 21 assists, 39 points, -6
The optimism and promise that Chromiak once showed to Kings fans and the front office just a couple of years ago was called into question this past season in the AHL amid the long scoring droughts that sometimes lasted a double-digit number of games in Ontario.
There were two stretches of at least eight games this past regular season with the Reign which Chromiak went scoreless for the Reign.
The switch by Sturm to put Chromiak on a line with more experienced and proven forwards in the AHL, like Glenn Gawdin and Charles Hudon, lit a fire under the young forward for the Reign down the stretch in March and April. He scored a point per game and eight goals in a stretch of just 15 games late this past regular season.
Last season showed that when Chromiak is engaged and put in the right situation, he can be a highly effective and efficient goal-scoring forward.
Rink Royalty grade for Kings re-signing Martin Chromiak: A-
Martin Chromiak 2025-26 Los Angeles Kings season preview
Earlier this summer in the 2025 offseason, the Kings signed Chromiak to a one-year two-way contract. Chromiak isn't waiver-eligible with the new two-way contract he signed earlier this offseason, so he would have to clear waivers if the Kings wanted to assign him to the Reign in the AHL this upcoming season.
This season will be hugely important for Chromiak to show more scoring production and consistency. His ability to thrive scoring the puck when put in the right situation means he can be a middle or bottom-six contributor to the forward lines for the Kings in the NHL heading into the future.