YeSIRRRRRRRRRR

Notable players not mentioned -

Forwards: Blake Lizotte, Tyler Madden, Akil Thomas, Kasper Simontaival, Martin Chromiak

Defense: Helge Grans, Jordan Spence, Kim Nousiainen

Honest Question: Does Lizotte have a real future in LA? I agree with you, I left some prospects out, but that shows how loaded the Kings are. I don’t see how Lizotte has a roster spot in 1-2 years when JAD, Turcotte, Byfield, Madden, Thomas, etc. start making the team.

I think Brown comes back after his current contract ends. It's not going to be a big money deal, but with the new rules on 35+ contracts, I could see him getting another 2 year contract in the $2M range.

*Edit: Was Brown on their originally? I must have overlooked his name.

My only notes on your roster is that Kempe should be at 3LW. 2LW is above his potential. How can you pass up the KKK line? I think Andersson is the current hope for 2LW, but it's entirely up to him whether or not he lives up to his potential.



Aside from Madden, I don't think any of these guys will be on the roster in 2022-23.



I think he will sign another contract in LA after his current one expires, but unless someone doesn't work out, I don't see him sticking around long term. I think Iafallo goes before Lizotte does.

Thomas is going to be in the AHL next year so NHL isn't too far off. Also Spence/Nousiainen/Simontaival/Grans are already playing against men, if Fagemo can make the team I think it's arguable any of these players could make it as well.

I honestly don't think Thomas will ever play in the NHL on the Kings. Maybe he gets Kupari's spot if he doesn't work out. I suspect we'll see him traded next year or the year after.

Spence is playing in the QMJHL and will be there for another season. He hasn't played against men at all. I think he's still several years away. He'll need 2-3 seasons in the AHL after his final year in the Q before he's ready.

I'm not convinced Nousiainen will be an NHL player. Liiga is a high quality league, but it's not exactly the NHL. He's fairly undersized at 5'10", 170lbs. I'd give him a 10% shot of making the NHL.

Simontaival is hard to project. He has played a handful of games against men, but most of his career so far has been in the Finnish U20 league. The games he did play against men, he played in Mestis (the Finnish D2 league), roughly equivalent to the ECHL. I'd feel much more confident in his chances if he had been playing in Liiga. Fagemo, on the other hand, has played the entirety of the last two seasons in the SHL, Sweden's highest hockey league. He's was much further along in his development than Simontaival was at the time he was drafted. I think Simontaival has a decent shot to make it, but I doubt he'll be NHL ready by 2022.

Ah duh totally correct on Spence, totally wrong there. And I hear what you are saying about the Swedes but I thought Simontaival was already playing in Liiga (sorry, don't follow Swede league enough, just read the prospect profiles). My argument for Thomas is not that he is better than JAD, he's actually had experience playing with Byfield, I could see him being a bottom-six player with Byfield during a call-up. At the end of the day we don't know, no one saw Roy being such a good fit, or Lizotte being as good as he was, or Frk would actually be an NHL player. So I guess we won't know for sure, just wanted to note players I like for the Kings future.

Liiga/Mestis are Finnish leagues. The Swedish leagues are the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) and Allsvenskan (D2). Similar to the NHL/AHL here, players can be loaned between leagues in Finland. Simontaival has played most of his career in the U20 leagues. He has played a handful of games in Liiga (11 games over 3 seasons, scoring 0g-3a in those games). He has the potential to be a quality player in the future, but he's 3-4 seasons behind Fagemo in his development.

I see the appeal for keeping Thomas around to play with Byfield since they have played together in the past. It's possible Thomas gets a handful of games on a callup. I just don't see him having the skillset to stick around long term. He's not a 4th line type, meaning he'd need to fit in on at least the 3rd line, and our current winger options there are Kempe and one of Fagemo/Kupari. I just don't see him beating out any of those guys for a roster spot.

I agree it's all speculation at this point. I just think the odds are against most of the guys that you mentioned above. Time will tell.

Nice, thanks friend, always informative to learn about prospects from you.